


He's Not Dangerous

by Raberba girl (Raberba_girl)



Series: All my related How to Train Your Dragon fanfiction [6]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Dreamworks)
Genre: Dragon perspective, Gen, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III and Dragons, Night Furies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-02-06 19:40:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1869927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raberba_girl/pseuds/Raberba%20girl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Toothless has to convince a flock of Night Furies not to kill Hiccup on sight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. He's Not Dangerous

He's Not Dangerous

(rough draft)

A DreamWorks' _How to Train Your Dragon_ fanfic by Raberba girl

 

Summary: Toothless has to convince a flock of Night Furies not to kill Hiccup on sight.

 

A/N: Agh, I don't even know how to post my HTTYD fanfiction anymore.... AO3's series function makes things much easier, and dA only lets me post each installment separately anyway, but my HTTYD fics on FFN are already turning into a mess. *facepalm* And I'm so far behind on updating my fanfiction indexes that _none_ of my HTTYD fics are listed yet. DX

Ftr, this fic is, at least at the moment, just a random one-shot standalone not related to any of my other headcanons/universes.

 

**Takes place shortly after HTTYD2.**

 

o.o.o

 

Hiccup finally closed his notebook and tucked it away, glancing around for Toothless. "Hey, bud, you ready to go?"

 

Nothing responded except the quiet, distant sounds of the forest.

 

The young Viking frowned. "Toothless?" He got to his feet and began wandering through the trees. "Toothless~ Where are you~?" He had absently sensed the dragon doing his own investigating while Hiccup had been busy, but he hadn't realized that they'd actually gotten separated. "Hey, Toothless, I mean it, where are you?"

 

Hiccup emerged from the woods and found himself on a high outcrop. He broke into a relieved smile when he saw a familiar winged black creature on the ground below. " _There_ you are.... Come on, Toothless, let's go!" Hiccup made his way down the hill, sometimes picking his way carefully and other times sliding to make progress. He had just half-rolled to level ground and was still in the process of climbing to his feet when a Night Fury leaped in front of him - and _roared_.

 

"Tooth--" Hiccup lost his balance and fell back to the ground, gaping up at the black dragon in shock. It was _enormous_.

 

Well, actually, not compared to other dragons Hiccup had seen; it wasn't much bigger than Hookfang. But when Hiccup was expecting to see a dragon whose length from the neck to the base of the tail was about his own height, the unexpected Night Fury seemed huge in comparison.

 

"You're not Toothless," Hiccup realized, shock turning his voice into a mere thread of sound.

 

The dragon flattened itself close to the ground, its wings spread wide. With its eyes narrowed to angry slits, it stalked forward, and Hiccup scrambled back. He started struggling to get to his feet again, but the dragon startled him with a displeased snarl. Hiccup's back hit the side of the outcrop, and he plopped back down. "Hey...."

 

The dragon reared up.

 

"H-Hey--" A chill went down his spine when the signature sound of a Night Fury's fire began to whistle shrilly. Hiccup stared at the open, glowing mouth in horror and sadness. "No-- No, please don't, I...please, don't...."

 

Plasma exploded. Hiccup instinctively dove into a tight ball, arms wrapped around his own head, not that that would do him any good. But for some reason he wasn't dead...and the dragon roars deafening him sounded like they were coming from _two_ animals. The black winged shape looming over him was crouched in a protective stance, glowing a fierce blue in some places; then a red tail fin whipped around and nearly hit Hiccup in the nose, and he gasped in relief when he realized that, once again, his best friend had saved his life.

 

Toothless let out another outraged roar at the wild Night Fury, and spread his wings farther until the Viking was almost completely hidden from sight.

 

Hiccup, fascinated despite himself, couldn't help crouching to peer under the edge of Toothless's wing, in awe at the sight of the hostile dragon. "There's another one...there's _another one_...!"

 

The wild Night Fury raised its head and bellowed to the sky. Toothless whipped around and began frantically nudging at Hiccup, hard enough to force him to his feet.

 

"Toothless, what--?"

 

At the exact moment when he realized that his dragon wanted him to mount up so they could take off, the ground shook. Night Furies were dropping out of the sky, two, three-- _four_ of them.

 

All of them were bigger and more powerful-looking than Toothless.

 

Hiccup stared at them. Then at his best friend. "You're a _runt_!" he realized, flabbergasted. Then a smile broke over his face. "Just like me." He reached out to affectionately scratch his dragon behind the head plates.

 

Toothless threw Hiccup to the ground and crouched over him like a mother dragon protecting a hatchling, so low that Hiccup was pinned. The other dragons roared at him, some pacing in aggressive frustration, and Toothless roared back. Shots were exchanged, prompting Hiccup to drop his face to the ground and cover his head.

 

When the plasma blasts stopped and Hiccup dared to look up again, he found that they were now surrounded, not just by warriors or scouts, but by what must have been most of the rest of the flock as well. Although most of them were large, there were also some smaller Night Furies closer to Toothless's size, one with a scarred chunk of missing scales on its shoulder. A small hatchling's face curiously peeped over the base of its mother's wing; one giant near the back towered over them all despite its skinny frame.

 

Black seemed to be the predominant color, but there were others as well: deep violet and midnight blue and forest green, and more; all very dark colors that would allow these dragons to blend in with the shadows. "Wow," Hiccup murmured. Even the threat of imminent death could do little to curb his awe and excitement.

 

One of the big black ones at the front suddenly rushed them. Toothless shot to intercept him; the others immediately seized the opening. Toothless was fast as lightning, but even he couldn't hold back five Night Furies at once, and Hiccup was suddenly staring up at two gaping mouths, with two shrill warnings whistling in his ears.

 

His arm shot out, spraying Zippleback gas in their faces. They looked surprised at the unexpected smell, long enough for Toothless to crash into them and force them farther away from his human.

 

Hiccup knelt there, gasping for breath and thinking that he might have just done something pretty stupid, surrounding himself in a cloud of highly flammable gas. _'No, Night Fury fire is expelled in projectile fashion. If one of them fires at me, I'm dead, whether I'm sitting in this stuff or not.'_

 

Toothless leaped back in front of him and roared. The warriors had fallen back and were growling at Toothless in response; the rest of the flock was now vocal as well, as if they were all yelling and arguing.

 

Just as Hiccup was wondering if he'd be able to sneak in a sketch or two, he suddenly realized that a very small Night Fury, so young that it had no jaw frills at all, had approached so stealthily that it was now only two steps away. Toothless, arguing with the rest of the flock, hadn't even noticed it. As soon as Hiccup saw it, the young Night Fury froze and narrowed its eyes, crouching low.

 

"Hey," Hiccup whispered. "It's okay, little guy."

 

The dragon glared at him suspiciously, but then its eyes widened when Hiccup slowly began to reach out for it. For a second, it looked fascinated - then it suddenly bared its teeth and glared again in warning. Hiccup instinctively jerked back his hand. They stared at each other for a second. Then the human took a deep breath, turned his face away, and once more stretched out his hand toward the young Night Fury. He waited, holding his breath. Waited...waited....

 

The touch on his palm was so gentle that it startled him even though he had been desperately hoping for it. Hiccup suppressed a gasp and forced his hand to stay as still as possible. Then he risked a peek and saw the dragon now sniffing curiously at his fingers.

 

Hiccup suddenly became aware of an utter silence around them. He looked up and saw the eyes of every single Night Fury fixed on him - the flock's eyes wide with shock, Toothless's with disbelief.

 

"Um...yeah, so--"

 

Toothless gave a very, very soft growl. The young Night Fury looked at him, and Hiccup automatically lowered his arm. As soon as he was out of danger, Toothless snarled fiercely enough to make the younger dragon yelp and hastily back away.

 

"Whoa, Toothless, wait!" Hiccup hastily got to his feet and pushed at Toothless's head and chest, trying to get him to back down. "It's okay, bud, he's a friend!" Toothless growled at him in annoyance. "Toothless, come on--"

 

A change passed over the flock. Hiccup gasped as wing beats sounded just over his head, and three more huge black Night Furies came to an imposing landing. The leader was three times the size of Toothless, and also glowing blue; his pupils were tightly slitted in a murderous expression. Toothless dove to shield his human from a plasma blast, knocking the wind out of him.

 

Hiccup, crushed under the dragon's protective embrace, fought to regain his breath and then listened nervously to the exchange of enraged roars and howls. Another blast hit, and Hiccup worried for his friend's safety. How many close range shots could a Night Fury take before getting significantly injured?

 

Toothless suddenly snapped open his wings and shoved Hiccup out in front of him. More roars, then Toothless unexpectedly slopped his tongue up the side of Hiccup's face. Before Hiccup could get enough of his wits together to protest or even exclaim in disgust, Toothless was going on to slobber up the rest of his face and his hair and his palms - the few exposed bits of the human's body. It wasn't Toothless's usual playful licking, either; he seemed almost angry about it. By the time he was done, Hiccup smelled very strongly of Night Fury. _'Was that the point?'_ he wondered in the back of his mind.

 

The flock's alpha had lowered himself to the ground with his wings spread, his anger now more menacing than aggressive. Toothless, also with spread wings but his head held high, vocalized loudly. The alpha growled in response.

 

"Toothless--"

 

Toothless struck the ground with his front paws in frustration, then whirled around and - _shot a plasma blast at Hiccup_.

 

There was silence in the aftermath. Hiccup, shaking as terrible memories began to replay through his mind, lowered his arms from his head and stared at his best friend in shocked betrayal. "Tooth...less...." This _couldn't_ be happening. It had happened countless times in his nightmares, but he had never thought he would have to truly live through this horror again. "T-Toothless, it's me, please don't--"

 

Yet Toothless didn't _look_ like he had lost his free will. He sat with his front paws close together and his head lowered apologetically, his eyes very wide and still full of life.

 

"Toothless...?"

 

And the blast had missed. It had torn the ground in front of Hiccup's knees and singed his clothes a little, but it hadn't actually struck him, even though there was no way any dragon could have missed at that range, much less a Night Fury. "Toothless, I don't--"

 

Toothless crept forward and let Hiccup hug him, nosed his face and gave it a small lick. But just when Hiccup felt relieved enough to dismiss the assault as an accident or a weird fluke, Toothless's eyes narrowed again. He gently nudged Hiccup away from him and then growled at him as if they were strangers.

 

"Toothless, _stop_! It's _me_ , your best friend!"

 

Toothless snarled and pounced, throwing him flat on his back. Hiccup frantically pushed at him to keep those snapping jaws away from his face, but his efforts were laughable against the dragon's unquestionably superior strength. It didn't even occur to him that he was armed until Toothless paused to glance at his knife. Hiccup instinctively drew it, not registering the alarmed hisses of the other Night Furies. Then he froze, the small weapon clenched in his fist, staring at Toothless, who growled softly and waited.

 

 _'...What am I supposed to do, stab my best friend with this?'_ The thought sickened him, so he threw the knife away, his eyes closing for a minute in despair. His body went limp as he realized that his dearest companion was about to kill him and he couldn't even _try_ to defend himself. He opened his eyes again and begged, "Why are you doing this?" Toothless simply looked at the Dragon Blade at his thigh. Hiccup did not hesitate to throw that away, too.

 

As he did so, he could not take his eyes away from his friend's, trying helplessly to understand why Toothless was hurting him like this while still in his right mind. _'...But_ has _he hurt me?'_ Not really. Not yet, at any rate. Threatening behavior and ungentle handling; that's all it had been so far. If Toothless had wanted to kill him, he could have easily done so already. Did the dragon have some other purpose in mind?

 

Hiccup drew in a deep breath and braced his palms against the ground so he could sit up. Countless times he had expected Toothless to trust him; how many times had Toothless had no idea what was really happening, yet had obeyed or submitted to him without hesitation? _'How can I still call myself your friend if I'm not willing to do the same when you need me to?'_ Hiccup took his dragon's face in his hands and gazed into his eyes as he whispered, "I trust you, bud."

 

Toothless crooned softly as he nuzzled Hiccup for a moment, and Hiccup returned the affection. Then, back to business, Toothless seized Hiccup's shoulder in his mouth and shook him, not hard enough to injure him, but certainly enough to be uncomfortable and alarming. Hiccup, wincing, squirmed half-heartedly to get away; Toothless released him so that he could nip at the clasps on his outfit. Warily, Hiccup took the cue and removed his leather armor, dropping it on the ground so that he was left in just his basic clothing, utterly defenseless. Then a blow that sent him reeling; and before he could recover, the telltale whine of a Night Fury's fire.

 

This time, Hiccup didn't cringe, though for some reason his hand flew up to press against his own heart. He did have to close his eyes against the brightness of the Night Fury's attack, but he didn't move as one and then two plasma blasts scorched the earth uncomfortably close to where he knelt. "I trust you," he muttered under his breath to reassure himself, "I trust you, I trust you...."

 

He finally remembered that they had an audience. The entire flock seemed perturbed - they were shifting restlessly, their uncertain eyes darting between him and their alpha. The alpha alone remained sitting as still as stone, watching the display through cold, narrowed eyes.

 

Hiccup's attention snapped back as Toothless approached. The dragon set a paw on his chest and pushed Hiccup to the ground again. The paw moved to press against his stomach; the dragon's head lowered, forcing Hiccup to lift his chin and expose his throat. There was a soft sound of teeth sliding into place. "Toothless please don't kill me," Hiccup murmured as the jaws closed gently around his neck. He dug his fingers into the dirt in an effort to keep his hands still.

 

Flat on his back with deadly claws poised to tear out his intestines and dragon's teeth set to rip out his throat, Hiccup was completely at the Night Fury's mercy. At this angle, he had an upside-down view of the flock's alpha, who watched with the same stubbornly unimpressed expression as before, though the other Furies were animated with nervous anticipation. The moment held.

 

Then Toothless let him go and _roared_ furiously at the alpha, glowing fiercely again.

 

The alpha growled. Then he stood up, gave one last snarl, and flew away, accompanied by a few others.

 

The rest of the flock seemed to explode with excited screeching, barking, and wing flapping. Toothless whirled and flung himself at Hiccup, who couldn't help flinching, but when his friend simply started showering him with anxious nuzzling and croons and dragon-kisses, Hiccup laughed shakily and hugged him, accepting his apologies. "Let's...let's not do that again, okay, bud? That was kind of scary...." When Toothless finished stroking the whole length of his back against Hiccup's and circled back around, Hiccup put his arms around his neck again and rubbed his cheek against the dragon's. "Scary~ So scary~" It came out in a playful sing-song, and Toothless vocalized melodically in response.

 

Until he got shoved aside. A large, very dark green Night Fury pushed its face into Hiccup's chest and then stared straight into his eyes, its face only two finger's-breadth away from his, with its tongue lolling out of its mouth in a friendly way.

 

"Uhh--" Then Hiccup grunted in surprise as another Night Fury knocked him in the back, forcing him to somewhat painfully head-butt the Night Fury still in front of him. The startled green Fury leaped away, and Hiccup yelped as the one behind him licked the side of his neck. Then the very young Fury from earlier came bouncing up and eagerly shoved its head into Hiccup's palm. Hiccup had only just started to instinctively curl his fingers into a scratching movement when several older Furies roared at the little one, prompting it to hiss at them and back away.

 

Toothless, looking outraged, gave a loud bellow. The other dragons paused. Toothless snapped at the closest ones so that they jerked away from Hiccup, then he seized his human's arm in his toothless mouth and started dragging him away.

 

"Wait, Toothless, wait, hold on...!"

 

He struggled to get free until Toothless finally stopped and growled his _"Why are you always so_ difficult _??"_ growl at him.

 

"Toothless, what are you doing?! They're NIGHT FURIES! _Night Furiiiieeesss!_ "

 

Toothless gave him an unimpressed look.

 

"Come on, Toothless, this is your family, isn't it?! Or something? We can't just _leave_!"

 

The other dragons had started to approach again. Toothless planted himself in front of Hiccup and snarled to warn them off.

 

"Toothless," Hiccup said in exasperation. He caressed the dragon's head roughly and held his face close. "Buddy~" he said in a cajoling tone, "it's _fine_ now, okay? I'll be fine. Let's say hi to everyone and see if we can figure out if you belong here or not, you know?"

 

Toothless gave him a very displeased look, but did not protest too much when Hiccup stepped toward the flock, greeting them as he retrieved his weapons and armor. The friendly green Fury came to rub its head against Hiccup's side, and the bold young Fury closed its toothless mouth around Hiccup's entire hand, then nosed at his fingers.

 

"Eeeaauughh, dragon drool...you guys are so gross...."

 

After a few minutes of being examined by the extremely curious remaining Night Furies (the rest were wandering off in the direction their alpha had gone), Hiccup disengaged himself from the dragons investigating his hair, prosthetic, and Dragon Blade, and went to go look for a suitable stick. "Look, guys, I wanna show you something."

 

The dragons watched in utter fascination as Hiccup began sketching a picture of Toothless in the dirt. (Toothless himself was sulking on a boulder nearby.) Soon after he had finished the eyes, one of the Furies gave a cry of delight and went to tear off a tree branch. Hiccup, smiling widely, retreated to sit with Toothless (who possessively wrapped a wing around him, which Hiccup had to nudge aside in order to see better), as three or four of the other dragons worked on their own pictures. "So Night Furies _are_ artistic as a breed trait, it's not just you," Hiccup murmured, affectionately scratching one of the 'sweet spots' on Toothless's head and then getting out his notebook. "Soooo cool...."

 

Inevitably, the Night Furies ran out of room, and their drawings started overlapping with each other. They would growl and snarl at each other every time their own lines were intersected by anyone else's, and soon their 'pencils' lay abandoned as they got caught up in what looked like a free-for-all between four or five angry dragons. Only the youngest one stayed out of it, slyly taking the opportunity to scuff away the others' lines so that it could continue with its own masterpiece.

 

"Whoa, hey, guys, wait! It's okay, it's just-- Come on, we'll find another-- And _you_! Stop laughing!"

 

Toothless just chortled again, his eyes gleaming with amusement.

 

The Night Furies finally tired themselves out and wandered off sulkily. Three of them curled up under bushes or behind boulders; another two or three of them flew away. The green one climbed up to the Berkians' boulder and happily cuddled close to Hiccup, chewing on a pinecone as if it was a toy, and pretending not to notice Toothless's outrage. The youngest Night Fury flew up to join them and curled up with its head in Hiccup's lap. Hiccup had to lean back against his own dragon's chest and reach up to scratch hard at his sweet spots just to get Toothless to shut up.

 

As he did so, he was thinking. "It's still the middle of the afternoon...are you guys nocturnal?" Of course they were; they were _Night Furies_. Their dark coloring and what the Vikings had known about Fury behavior before the end of the war made it suddenly obvious that these dragons were designed to be more active in darkness. "Did us showing up freak you all out and drag you out of bed in the middle of the 'night'?" Hiccup tilted his head back to stare up at Toothless in dismay. "Living with me has _completely and totally_ messed up your sleeping patterns, hasn't it!"

 

Toothless made a curious whuffing sound, as if he didn't understand the words and wouldn't have cared even if he had.

 

"Ohhh, Toothless, I'm so sorry...."

 

Trapped under a pile of Night Furies, Hiccup eventually drifted off to sleep until twilight. When he opened his eyes again, the Furies were stirring, yawning, stretching, getting to their feet, and padding out of their nests. They spread their wings, and some of them looked at Toothless curiously. The young Fury sniffed at his prosthetic tail fin. Toothless vocalized smugly at them.

 

Overhead, many wing beats sounded. Hiccup squinted up at the darkening sky to see what looked like the whole Night Fury flock flying overhead. His companions took to the air and circled, calling out curiously to Toothless; only the youngest remained at Hiccup's side, looking back and forth between him and his partner with great interest.

 

Toothless barked at Hiccup and spread his wings, grinning his toothless grin.

 

Hiccup grinned back, almost not noticing that the young Night Fury at his side had started to copy the gesture. "You wanna show them how the alphas of Berk fly, bud?" He hopped onto Toothless's back, slipped his feet into the stirrups, and spread the prosthetic fin. More Night Furies were circling them now, vocalizing loudly as they watched in confusion and interest.

 

"Let's go, bud!" Then they were off, joining the flock, surrounded by Night Furies who swarmed around them in excitement. "Up, Toothless!"

 

Hiccup and Toothless _did_ sometimes play in the dark. Being deprived of his sense of sight added another dimension of thrill to the experience for Hiccup. But this was the first time they'd played in the sky, at night, _with a whole flock of other dragons playing alongside them_ , and Hiccup thought for the millionth time that being a dragon rider was TOTALLY AMAZING and he wouldn't trade it for the world.

 

They swooped and dipped, corkscrewed, looped. They climbed. They climbed until the other dragons started calling out to them, and then they climbed some more.

 

Then they fell.

 

Hiccup grinned as he sensed Furies swarming madly around them, screeching; without having to look, he unhooked himself from the saddle and carefully let himself drift away from Toothless. He grinned at his dragon, and knew that Toothless was grinning back. He felt Toothless poke him in the shoulder, and carefully allowed himself to spin vertically while still maintaining control of his fall.

 

At last Toothless gave the signal that he'd had enough; a little earlier than usual, but it _was_ a bit disconcerting to have a frantic audience for this. Hiccup reached out and they reconnected. In one smooth motion, he was back in the saddle, the tail extended, and they gracefully returned to level flight.

 

The flock's response was deafening.

 

Hiccup laughed, then yelled in surprise when something struck him. From the smell of Fury drool and the way his hand came away from his cheek wet and slimy, he figured that one of the dragons had licked him as it had flown by. Which was rather impressive, considering that it hadn't nicked him with its wings or knocked him off of Toothless in the process. "Yeah, _that's_ right. That's how we fly on Berk." Toothless barked as if to reinforce the sentiment.

 

Eventually, Hiccup was reluctantly forced to acknowledge that he'd been away from his village for far too long, and that he was going to get a severe tongue-lashing - from several people - when he made it home. "We'd better start heading back, bud...." They'd been gone far longer than he'd planned, though in light of their discovery, he didn't regret it at all; he'd gladly sit through a hailstorm of scolding. He just had to hope that no true emergencies had cropped up during his absence.

 

Hiccup reluctantly broke away from the flock and angled Toothless's nose for Berk. "Bye, guys. We'll be back." He smiled as a few of the dragons he'd befriended arced away from the others and came gliding after Toothless, staring in confusion. Eventually, however, they fell back one by one until only the green one and the youngest one were left. Hiccup decided to call them Pinecone, after the green dragon's bedtime snack, and Slyfoot, for the young dragon's apparent gift of sneaking around behind its elders' backs.

 

It was a long flight, and it had been a long time since Hiccup had eaten anything. He kept dozing off in the saddle until he finally sighed, lay back, and closed his eyes for real, 'listening' to the dragon's movements so that he could control the left tail fin in his half-sleep. When he fell too deeply asleep and his foot started fouling their flight rather than maintaining it, he was awakened by both the jarring movements and by an irritated Toothless. Hiccup started to lock the dragon's tail for a sustained glide - then realized that Pinecone was _still with them_.

 

"Whoa...you _do_ realize that we're going a looooong way away? Somewhere with a whole bunch of people?" Hiccup looked around. Although he couldn't see anything in the darkness, he realized that there was a distressed sound coming from behind and below him. It sounded almost like crying. "Toothless? Hold on, bud, let's check that out."

 

Slyfoot had not left them, either. Hiccup's mouth dropped open in horror when he realized that the small young dragon was still on their trail but was losing strength, falling farther and farther behind. There was nothing but ocean below; if he couldn't rest soon, he'd fall into the water and drown. "Slyfoot! Quick, Toothless! We gotta find somewhere to land!"

 

They managed to come across a small island before it was too late. As soon as Slyfoot's paws hit the ground, he staggered forward a few steps and then collapsed, immediately falling into such a deep sleep that Hiccup worried for a second that he was dead. He made the young dragon as comfortable as he could and then settled down against Toothless. "Might as well get some real sleep myself...we are going to be in _so much trouble_ when we get home...."

 

o.o.o.o.o

 

In the morning, it was Slyfoot who pranced energetically around Hiccup and Pinecone who looked sluggish, having presumably spent the rest of the night exploring as the others slept. Yet he gamely rose into the air with them and kept decent pace.

 

"Seriously, guys, we're going all the way home to Berk. Are you _sure_ you want to come with us?"

 

Slyfoot tucked his head and gave Hiccup an upside-down toothless grin.

 

Later, when they finally approached the island, they were first spotted by patrols. The two wild Night Furies stared at the dragon riders, and when Barf and Belch drew close, the younger Fury hissed and fell back on the other side of Toothless.

 

"You are in _so much trouble_ ," Ruffnut cackled.

 

"Astrid's totally gonna punch you in the face," Tuffnut said in satisfaction.

 

"Because I missed an emergency," Hiccup asked apprehensively, "or just because I'm late getting back?"

 

"Well~ If you consider half the village burning down to be an 'emergency'...."

 

"Half the village burned down?!?!"

 

"Heh, just messin' with ya."

 

" _Tuffnut_."

 

Ruffnut was staring. "Are those...?"

 

Hiccup couldn't help grinning widely. "Night Furies? Yep. There's a whole _flock_ of them out there, these are just the two who decided to follow us home."

 

"Cooooool!"

 

"Awesome! I get the big green one!"

 

" _I_ want the green one! You can have the runt!"

 

"No! Greenie's mine, I claimed him first!"

 

Hiccup rolled his eyes and nudged Toothless to accelerate, leaving the twins behind to bicker.

 

A crowd had already gathered to greet him, which he'd been afraid of, but it was rather difficult for a Night Fury carrying the missing chief of Berk to escape detection during the daytime. Hiccup saw Astrid waiting for him with her arms crossed, and could well imagine the grim look on her face. His mother, coming up beside her, didn't have the most welcoming stance, either.

 

"Hiccup!"

 

The villagers were already shouting at him in excitement before he'd even landed.

 

"Chief!"

 

"You'll never believe--"

 

"I've been waiting for two days--!"

 

"Please look at--!"

 

"Hiccup! _Hiccup_!"

 

Their attention started to shift when they realized the breed of Hiccup's dragon companions. Some of them stared in astonishment at Slyfoot, who alighted on a rooftop and hissed at them; the rest of their eyes were fixed on Pinecone, who, immediately after landing, squirmed uneasily between Hiccup and Toothless as Hiccup was dismounting.

 

Valka's stern expression dissolved almost before Hiccup even had a chance to see it. "Are they--?!"

 

"Night Furies!" Hiccup said pleadingly, answering her question but mostly addressing Astrid. He waved his arms. "Night Furiiiiiiiieeeeesssss!"

 

Pinecone stood with his head down, feet apart, and wings spread as he found himself surrounded by humans. His eyes were wide with wary curiosity, but flicked nervously around at the excited villagers reaching out to touch him.

 

"Don't," Valka ordered. "Back away, please. Don't frighten him."

 

Above, curious dragons were coming to investigate Slyfoot. When they ignored his warning growls, he leaped to a second rooftop, then back to the ground to hide behind Toothless. Toothless snickered at his distress and ambled off to find a snack.

 

Astrid had launched into her tirade. "Uuuuggghhh, _Hiccup_! Wild dragons breaking into the storage sheds, a skirmish with Berserks on Changewing Island, Gobber drowning in orders, Gustav nearly violating our treaty with the Bogs...!"

 

"I know, I know! I'll take care of everything, right away, but, just, _Night Furies_!!!"

 

Astrid sighed, and, to his relief, was smiling just a little as she punched him in the arm (hard) and then kissed him (briefly). "I get it, Dragon Boy. Just...some _balance_ , you know? It wouldn't be so bad if this wasn't the _third time_ you've done this in the past month...."

 

"I know. I'm really sorry." Hiccup took her hands and smiled at her. "I'll get better," he said softly. She smiled back and gave him a longer kiss.

 

Valka was crouched before Pinecone, murmuring to him soothingly. The villagers had backed up a couple steps, but were still eagerly watching the Furies and jostling each other in order to see better. Slyfoot hissed fiercely and then opened his mouth wide in preparation for a plasma blast.

 

"Whoa, whoa! Slyfoot, don't, it's okay!" Hiccup hurried back to the dragons, shooing aside villagers as best he could. "Hey, hey, back up, guys, come on, they're _wild Night Furies_ , this could end really badly...." He dropped to his knees beside Slyfoot and set a hand on his nose, giving him a pleading look. Slyfoot swallowed his fire and stared at him, as if astonished that Hiccup would prevent him from defending himself.

 

"I want the green one!" someone in the crowd called enthusiastically.

 

"No! Me! I'll give two chickens and a goat for it!"

 

The 'green one' in question slunk behind Hiccup as if to hide his bulk behind Hiccup's slim frame.

 

"It's okay, Pinecone, I won't let anything happen to you," Hiccup said soothingly, patting the Night Fury's face. Pinecone slumped to lean against Hiccup's back ("Oof!"), dropping his head on Hiccup's shoulder and still staring around with very wide eyes.

 

A bidding war had already started.

 

"Five sheep and my two best swords!"

 

" _Ten_ sheep and my grandpa's finest spear!"

 

"They're _not available_ ," Hiccup said in exasperation. "I don't even know if they're going to stick around here or go back to their own flock soon!" Ignored as usual, he rolled his eyes and then gave Astrid a grateful look as she and Stormfly started aggressively forcing people to back away and give the newcomers more space.

 

Slyfoot, now that the humans had retreated somewhat, tentatively sniffed at Valka's open palm and then purred just a little. A few seconds later, Valka was exclaiming in delight over his wingspan and teeth and scales, as he wriggled happily on his back and let her stroke his belly. Pinecone woofed happily and leaned over to nuzzle the woman's cheek.

 

Valka looked at her son with shining eyes. "They're _magnificent_!"

 

"There's more, Mom," Hiccup said eagerly. "I found their flock by accident! You should have seen it, they _draw dragon-pictures_ , just like Toothless, and their alpha is _huge_ , I had _no idea_ Night Furies could get that big--!" He heard Astrid loudly clearing her throat. "Er...I can tell you the rest during dinner...."

 

"All right." Valka's smile was rapturous as Slyfoot affectionately rubbed his head against her and Pinecone licked her cheek.

 

Hiccup gave them one last smile, then got to his feet and headed toward the forge. Astrid, with a wry smile, slapped a handful of documents against his chest as he passed her. Toothless came bounding up to stalk beside him, growl over his shoulder at the other Furies, and extend a wing across Hiccup's back in a possessive gesture as if to shield him from their view. "I feel like I'm being pulled in a hundred directions at once, I _knew_ I wasn't cut out for this whole chief thing...."

 

o.o.o

 

Author's Notes: Got the idea for this random fic when I realized how many times Hiccup yells at people about Toothless, "He's not dangerous! / He won't hurt you! / Let me show you! / etc." (most people never give him a chance to demonstrate X'D). I thought a role reversal would be interesting.

 

Eventually gonna write a version from Toothless's perspective because I could pretty much hear all the dragons' dialogue throughout this whole thing, even though it was third person POV and Hiccup can't understand their language yet. *facepalm* I don't intend for this to be a series, though.

 

Like pretty much all my Fan Characters, Slyfoot & Pinecone formed themselves due to the story's needs; I had to name them when they started developing personalities and grabbing more screentime than I'd planned. ^^; They might show up in my other fics whenever I need Night Fury extras. I do have other Night Fury scenes in mind, but they're for other series such as _Two Worlds, One Family_.


	2. Toothless's perspective

He's Not Dangerous [Toothless version]

(rough draft)

A DreamWorks' _How to Train Your Dragon_ fanfic by Raberba girl

 

Summary: Toothless has to convince a flock of Night Furies not to kill Hiccup on sight. (This version is from Toothless's POV.)

 

 **A/N: I hope you guys' expectations weren't too high, because this didn't turn out as well as I thought. :/** (And it was harder to write than I expected; I kept getting stuck on certain lines and paragraphs, trying to find the right way to word them. X'D)

 

o.o.o

 

MY PRECIOUS THING IS IN DANGER.

 

It happens so often that I don't even need to hear Him scream or smell His fear anymore; now I just _know_.

 

I rush as fast as I can toward where the roaring is coming from. A Nightwing? A _Nightwing_??? I haven't seen one in so so so long, I thought--

 

Half Of Me loves Nightwings. He looks for us and draws pictures of us all the time. I just _know_ that He found this Nightwing who's not me and went up to her and tried to love her and now she's going to kill Him but that won't happen because I'M GOING TO KILL HER FIRST.

 

 _"Enemy!"_ she's screaming, _"Enemy!"_

_"NOT AN ENEMY!"_ I scream back, but I don't know if she can hear me, and I don't know if she'll listen to me even if she does hear me. We hate humans so so so much, they've hurt us so bad that we won't tolerate them anymore.

 

...........They. Not we. _I_ don't hate humans anymore.

 

...Am I not a Nightwing anymore?

 

I hear her fire. I hear His voice, how sad He is that He's about to die even though there is love in His heart instead of hate. I don't care whether I'm a Nightwing or not, all that matters is _I have to stop her_.

 

I think it hurts, it always hurts when I protect Him from attacks but I'm not sure because I always forget. I'm always so scared of losing Him that I barely feel it.

 

 _"What are you DOING?!"_ she screams at me.

 

_"BACK OFF! NO MORE FIRE!"_

_"That's a HUMAN!"_

_"He is MY human!"_

_"What?! What?!"_

 

I can hear Hiccup's heartbeat. I can hear him moving. I can still smell His emotions. He is alive. I am so so so so so glad He's alive. _"YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO HURT HIM!!"_ Hiccup smells happy. _Why_ is He happy? So many times He is frightened when there's nothing to be afraid of, and also He isn't afraid when He should be. I don't understand how someone can be so smart and so stupid at the same time.

 

Of course she can see that I am an alpha, but because I'm not _her_ alpha and she is so frightened and confused, she doesn't even try to do any obeisance. _"Are you crazy?! You are crazy!"_ She calls out to her troop about the enemy human and the insane foreign alpha Nightwing she has found (except I'm not insane, she only thinks I am). I have to get Hiccup away from here before the rest of her troop comes and kills Him.

 

 _"Precious! Hurry hurry hurry, we have to fly away_ now _!"_

 

He is only confused. STOP BEING STUPID, Hiccup! We have to _leave_!!!

 

It's too late. The troop is here, five of them altogether, suddenly I think that they are going to overpower me and I will die, and then they will kill my human, and then we will go into the Sun together. Maybe that isn't so bad. As long as I can keep my other half with me, it will be all right. But I still have to _try_ to keep Him alive if I can.

 

Hiccup is surprised to see the rest of the troop - and then He is _happy again_. My human is the best human ever, but he has NO SURVIVAL INSTINCT, if I don't keep protecting Him then he would be dead dead _dead_ a long time ago.

 

_"MOVE ASIDE, STRANGER!"_

_"NO!!!"_

 

They are shocked. _"That is a human! We must kill it!"_

_"I WON'T LET YOU KILL HIM! I'LL KILL_ YOU _INSTEAD!!!"_

_"See?"_ says the female, _"He is crazy."_

_"Then he will die, too."_

_"But he is an alpha--!"_

_"Not ours! A foreigner! Even if we don't kill him, Alpha will to protect us!"_

 

I don't want to challenge another alpha or take another flock, but I WILL if it means Hiccup will stay alive.

 

The troop shoots at us, so I shoot back. Hiccup is safe where my scales can protect Him, and _finally_ He is a little afraid. Only a little bit, stupid human, but at least He knows that His soft flesh will burn and that He must be frightened of fire.

 

We are so noisy that we wake up the rest of the flock, and they came flying to us. They hear that the guardian troop is taking too long to fight, so they think they need help.

 

 _"Go back to sleep!"_ I yell at them. _"There's no danger here!!! Only stupid dragons who won't listen!"_

 

One of the troop charges at me. I have to stop him from reaching my Precious Thing, but the others slipped behind me no no _no_ , Hiccup--!

 

He isn't _all_ stupid. It's very strange because sometimes He's stupider than a hatchling but other times He's smarter than even an elder. He surprises them with the two-head gas, and they can't understand why they see no two-head even though it smells like there is one standing right here. I'm so relieved to be able to knock them away from my human before they can hurt Him.

 

_"Stay away from my human! Stay AWAY!"_

 

They are so confused.

 

_"Why?!"_

_"It's a_ human _!"_

_"Why are you protecting it?!"_

 

I try to explain. _"He is a SPECIAL human! He is a_ good _human! He is a_ person _! He is my other half!"_

This makes them scream. Now _all_ of them think I'm crazy, and I want to hit my head against something because I am so frustrated. Why won't they believe me?! Why can't they see that Hiccup is different?! _"Can't you SMELL Him?! He has no hate, NONE! He loves dragons!!!"_

_"No!"_

_"Impossible!"_

_"Why are you talking about it like that?!"_

 

They see and hear that I call Hiccup a person and that He is my most precious and special thing that I love. But they can't understand it because they think every single human is a not-person and an enemy and a terrible disgusting thing to be burned, even my Hiccup. They can't understand it, so they all call me crazy and nothing I say or do can ever, ever change their minds. How, _how_ can I protect Hiccup when I can't make them understand???

 

_"What is he doing?!"_

_"Orphan, get away from it!"_

_"He is as crazy as Insane Foreigner."_

 

What are they talking about?

 

But now I can smell it, a Nightwing _way too close_ , and Hiccup _way too happy_ , so I look and

 

HICCUP IS TOUCHING A NIGHTWING. Right behind me. I didn't even notice. It sneaked up and Hiccup loved it instead of being afraid and now Hiccup's tiny weak paw is _right next to the Nightwing's teeth_ , right there ready to get burned or bitten off. HICCUP WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID???

 

I have to be gentle so the hatchling won't get startled and hurt Hiccup. _"Don't. Touch. My. Precious. Thing."_

 

The hatchling looks at me. _"What?"_

 

Hiccup's paw is not on its face anymore. He is safe. _"GET AWAY FROM MY HUMAN!!!"_

_"Eep--! HEY! Don't yell at me! Your human called for_ me _!"_

 

Now Hiccup is pushing me away, _protecting the hatchling_ , why are You so stupid why are You so stupid _why are You so stupid_?!?! Your love for strangers is a nice thing, but NOT WHEN YOU KEEP LETTING IT ALMOST KILL YOU!!!

 

Too late. Their alpha has sensed the trouble and now he's coming, he has death in his eyes and I think I will probably have to fight him and kill him. He shoots at Hiccup before I can even try to talk to him.

 

_"Stop shooting!!!"_

_"WHO ARE YOU. I'LL KILL YOU BEFORE I LET YOU TAKE MY FLOCK."_

_"I don't want your stupid flock! All I want is for you to stop trying to kill my Precious Thing and let us fly away safe!"_

 

He glares at me because he can't figure out what my Precious Thing is. He won't believe that it's the human.

 

_"They're people. They really are. They can throw away the hate if they try, and then--"_

_"STEP ASIDE."_

_"NO."_

_"THERE IS A HUMAN THERE."_

_"I_ know _! He's mine!!!"_

_"...You're going to_ eat _it?"_

 

Stupid alpha. He looks so disgusted; he can't even imagine any other reason why I would want a human.

 

_"THE HUMAN IS MY PRECIOUS THING."_

_"...You are insane. You must be destroyed."_ He shoots again, this time straight at me.

 

 _"I AM NOT INSANE."_ They don't have to believe me about all the humans. Even if they only believe me about Hiccup, then they'll let us go and He will be safe. _"This human is not a monster! He feels love!"_

_"That is not possible."_

_"Yes it IS! I can show you!"_

_"Humans are monsters. Every single one of them."_

_"This one is not. I_ promise _you, this one is not. Let me show you."_

_"Humans cannot feel or think, they don't know how to do anything except kill and destroy."_

_"That is NOT TRUE!"_ I show him Hiccup. Finally I'm glad that stupid Hiccup is not frightened like He should be, because He smells like a person instead of a monster, and they can all tell. _"See?!"_

 

They all lean forward, scenting Him. The alpha says nothing, but I hear the flock trying to make sense of it.

 

_"It is a small human...."_

_"Where are its blades? Why isn't it yelling?"_

_"I don't smell any bloodlust."_

_"Why isn't it angry?"_

_"I didn't know they could be curious!"_

_"Why isn't it attacking you, Foreigner?"_

 

Stupid dragons. Hiccup would never hurt me. He couldn't hurt me even if He tried. _"He is my other half, of COURSE He's not attacking me."_

_"How can a_ human _be your other half?!"_

_"That makes no sense!"_

_"It's not a dragon! It can't be your other half!"_

_"How can anyone possibly look at that thing and see_ you _?!"_

 

They are making me angry angry angry, so I put my scent on Hiccup, all of Him I can reach, until He smells more dragon than human.

 

_"Yuck!"_

_"How can you_ tolerate _that?!"_

_"He's not_ food _, stupid."_ Of course humans are still bad to eat, but they don't taste bad when you're just trying to talk to them. _"Let us FLY. Then you'll see. When we fly, we are one, not two."_

_"Humans can't fly!_ You're _the stupid one!"_

_"Enough."_ The alpha still has not changed his mind. Hiccup isn't doing anything threatening at _all_ , but the horrible alpha still wants to kill Him. _"Maybe the human has twisted your mind, or maybe you really are just insane. It doesn't matter, because all humans are a threat and I will eliminate this one. I don't care whether you get in the way or not, Foreigner."_

_"There is NO REASON to kill Him! He_ won't hurt you _or any of your flock, He never hurts_ anybody _! Everybody else are the ones always trying to hurt HIM!"_ Why won't they believe me?! _"Even if you attacked Him, He_ still _wouldn't hurt you! He's not dangerous!"_

 

I have to show them. They won't believe me unless I show them. So I shoot at Hiccup, and I'm careful to miss Him, but of course any monster human would still get frightened and angry and try to fight back or run, so when Hiccup doesn't do those things, they'll see that He's not a monster.

 

Except I forgot that Hiccup is stupid sometimes and can't understand when dragons talk. I meant to attack Him some more, but I can't when I see Him.

 

"Tooth...less...."

 

I didn't hurt His body, but...I accidentally still hurt Him somehow, very much. It makes me feel very bad, and I can't shoot again.

 

"T-Toothless, it's me, please don't--"

 

I forgot that Hiccup doesn't fight with His body or with human weapons, He fights with His heart instead. He didn't touch me or throw anything at me, but my chest hurts as much as if He'd pushed a blade through it. ...The other dragons don't know that, though, and I won't tell them, because they have to think that He's helpless and can't hurt anyone.

 

 _"You hurt my heart, you hurt my heart, you hurt my heart,"_ Hiccup is saying, so that I can't attack Him anymore; I have to go comfort Him instead. I comfort Him until His pain is gone and He stops hurting me with it. That's good. Now I can go back to pretending that He is helpless.

 

"Toothless, _stop_! It's _me_ , your best friend!"

 

Shut up, Hiccup! I pin Him to the ground, and He is frightened and struggles, but of course He is very weak and can't hurt me at all with those silly soft claws of His. He could do better with His human weapons, but of course the flock has to see that He won't use those to hurt anyone, either. _"Half Of Me, get rid of Your blades."_

 

He grabs His blade, the little one He keeps on His foreleg. But...He holds onto it. I smell how frightened He is, and suddenly I think that maybe He-- _Maybe He will try to attack me with it_. To defend Himself. Oh, Hiccup, please don't. Don't You trust that I would never hurt You?!

 

Finally He does throw the blade away, but He is grieving, so I realize He still doesn't understand. He thinks He has to sacrifice Himself, and it fills me with sad love to see that He would rather die than hurt me. _"You won't die! I'm not asking You to die, I would never ever ask You for that!"_

_"You are hurting my heart, Half Of Me,"_ He says again, even more than before because He's also saying _"I love you so much"_ at the same time, and He is so sad.

_"Please trust me, and You will see."_

 

He is still grieving as He gets rid of His last weapon. But then...something changes. I don't know how He finally figured it out, but His fear fades away and He's still sad but He tells me _"I love you,"_ and I can sense trust in Him where there wasn't before.

 

 _"I love You, too,"_ I tell Him. I am so relieved that He's not afraid anymore. I didn't think I could keep going when it hurt Him so badly, but now I can provoke Him without worrying, and He's unhappy but He's not too frightened and He's not angry at all. Thank You, Hiccup. I'll show them how special You are.

 

 _"It's_ still _not fighting back!"_

_"Is it...is it really a human...? Maybe it's some kind of strange animal that only looks like a human...."_

_"It's a trick! Humans trick you into thinking you've won and then they get you when you don't expect it!"_

 

Horrible, annoying dragons. I am going to have to go very far, right to the brink, before they'll believe me. I shoot at Hiccup again, and I am even more careful this time, but He makes it easy for me and barely moves.

 

_"Why didn't it jump away?!"_

 

_"Is it going to let you kill it?! Is it really going to just sit there and let you kill it?!"_

_"Of course I'm not going to kill my other half!"_

_"Can it really be your other half?!"_

_"Is it really a person? Can it really be a person...?"_

_"A human would have defended itself by now!"_

Finally. _Finally_. We're so close. _"Half Of Me would rather die than hurt me."_ To prove it, I pin Him down again, and I'm so relieved when He lets me threaten Him and doesn't try to protect His vulnerabilities at all.

 

Except...with His throat in my mouth and His belly under my claws and a little scent of fear in my nose, I have a sudden urge to rip and tear, which horrifies me. No no _no_ , this is _not_ prey! It is my _other half_ , it would be VERY VERY BAD to destroy my own Precious Thing! I must be very gentle and careful instead.

 

_"Look...."_

_"I see it but I can't believe it...."_

_"It's a human. Why won't it_ fight _?!"_

 

The trust Hiccup is giving me right now is the kind that dragons are only able to give to their other halves. It is too great a gift for us to give to anyone else. There can't be anymore doubt about it now that He loves me and I love Him as much as anyone is able to love. If they still won't believe me, then...they never will, and _they're_ the ones who are crazy.

 

Suddenly I can't stand holding Hiccup like that a second longer. He doesn't deserve to be threatened and hurt and made unhappy. _"There!"_ I scream at the alpha. _"If_ that _didn't make you see, then you are BLIND! Half Of Me would do anything for me, and I would do anything for Him!_ He _is the reason I am alpha, I conquered a great sea king and took its flock so that my human would be safe!"_ They can see in my glow and in my stance that it's true, and surely they understand that I will do it again if it's the only way to protect Hiccup. _"He deserves all my love, and I'm_ proud _to call Him my other half!"_

 

The alpha is angry. With all his heart he doesn't want to believe me, but even he can't deny what he has seen with his own eyes and heard with his own ears. _"Keep that abomination away from my nest, or I will tear you both to pieces."_ He flies away, and his most loyal dragons follow him.

 

I am _so relieved_. Precious Thing is safe, and I didn't have to kill any Nightwings or steal another flock to do it.

 

_"Did you see that?! Did you see that?!"_

_"How amazing! There is a human who is not a monster!"_

_"I want to smell it!"_

_"A sea king?! We can defeat a_ sea king _if we have a human precious thing?!?!"_

 

I don't care about them. Now that Hiccup is safe, I have to make Him happy again, I have to tell Him how sorry I am for frightening Him and hurting Him. I'm a little afraid that maybe He will be sad or angry at me for mistreating Him, but He forgives me and tells me He loves me, and I'm so relieved and happy. It doesn't matter that He's a human, Hiccup is still the best other half in the whole entire world.

 

o.o.o

 

Author's Notes: ...I kind of want to do yet another version from Slyfoot's perspective. *facepalm* (That one would cover more of the original fic. I sort of lost interest in Toothless's perspective once the HiccTooth parts were over. XD)

 

I FINALLY got my fanfiction indexes all up to date, yaaaaay!


	3. Slyfoot's perspective, part 1

He's Not Dangerous [Slyfoot version]

(rough draft)

A DreamWorks' _How to Train Your Dragon_ fanfic by Raberba girl

 

Summary: Slyfoot's perspective of "He's Not Dangerous."

 

A/N: Sorry for the delay. This took a _lot_ longer to finish writing than I expected ._. First it was such a pain having to have two or three windows open simultaneously for almost the entire time I was drafting, and then I got distracted by a bunch of other projects and also by problems in real life. But hey, better late than never.

 

*deletes lecture about all those "ZOMG UPDATE QUICK!!" comments I keep getting from FFN readers *sigh**

 

**Part 1**

 

I wake up in the middle of the day because I can hear one of the guardians screaming in the distance. She hasn't been yelling long enough for the others to get up yet, but I don't care if the guardians can handle it themselves or not; I want to see what's happening!

 

No one even notices me leave, I am so silent and stealthy like a shadow. Bear Brain notices when I accidentally step on his head, but he's only Bear Brain so he doesn't count.

 

 _"Why are you roaming around, Daring? We're supposed to be sleeping."_ Bear Brain is kind of stupid, which is why we call him Bear Brain, but I like him because he's one of the only ones who calls me something better than 'Annoying Orphan.'

 

_"I don't want to sleep."_

_"Where are you going?"_

_"To where the guardians are."_

_"The guardians?"_ He listens, and he hears them. Then he has to get up and follow me so he can keep talking to me. _"It's dangerous over there!"_

_"Yes! I want to see what's happening."_

_"She says there is a human."_

_"Good. I want to watch them kill it."_

_"Why?"_ He's so not smart that he's asking for real. He doesn't know that all humans are bad enough to be killed on sight.

 

_"Humans killed both my dam and my sire. They're the reason I'm alone. It's my turn to watch a human die."_

_"You're not alone. I'm with you."_

_"That's not what I meant, Bear Brain."_ He's older than me, but I'm smarter than him. I like that. _"I don't want parents, I can take care of myself. But_ I _was supposed to leave_ them _. They weren't supposed to be taken away from me. That's why I want to hurt humans, because they hurt me."_

_"That's very brave, Daring, but I don't think it's a good idea."_

_"I don't care. I'm going anyway."_

_"All right."_

_"...Why are you still coming? Go back and sleep again."_

_"But I don't want to! I want to stay with you. I'm worried about you, Little Friend."_

_"Don't be worried about me, I'll be fine. And don't call me little."_

 

He thinks for a while. _"I can not call you little, but I can't stop being worried."_

_"Fine. Just stay out of my way."_

_"All right."_

 

We hide in the shadows. I can smell smell _smell_ the human and it's exciting. I've never seen a human this close before.

 

...I thought it would be bigger. And more dangerous. But it's just sitting there, looking at Wave Skimmer and feeling sad. It doesn't even have any strange scary human weapons. _"Bear Brain,"_ I ask, _"why is it being boring?"_

_"Boring?"_ he says. For some reason he is sad, too. _"I'm not bored. Wave Skimmer is supposed to protect us from danger, but that human isn't dangerous. Maybe I should stop her."_

_"Are you crazy?! You can't_ stop _a guardian from protecting us!"_

_"But what is she protecting us fr--?"_

 

Someone else is screaming. Someone who is frantic with protection-terror. It's _another nightwing_ , a foreigner-- an _alpha_! I didn't know there were any nightwings left outside our flock. He bursts out of the trees and _shields the human_ so that Wave Skimmer can't kill it. I don't understand that at all. Maybe he's crazy. But how did he become an alpha if he's crazy?

 

Of course Wave Skimmer is very angry, but Foreigner is even angrier, and it's fun to watch them scream at each other.

 

 _"She didn't kill the human,"_ Bear Brain says happily.

 

 _"What is that stuff wrapped all over Foreigner? He looks like a horse."_ I saw captured horses once. They traveled with their human masters and carried lots of strange useless things, I don't know why.

 

_"I don't know. I wonder why the human is happy."_

 

The human _is_ happy. I don't understand that at all! I didn't even know humans _could_ be happy, but this one is, even though Wave Skimmer wants very much to kill it. I wonder why it's not attacking Foreigner even though Foreigner is being stupid and leaving his whole back vulnerable to it. How did he get to be an alpha when he's so stupid?

 

Wave Skimmer calls for the rest of her troop. Foreigner whirls around and I think he's going to shoot the human now, but instead he says, _"Precious! Hurry hurry hurry, we have to fly away_ now _!"_

 

What?! _What_?! I am very so much confused!

 

 _"Oooooh."_ Bear Brain is excited. _"The human is his precious thing! I_ knew _it wasn't a bad human!"_

_"What are you_ talking _about?!"_

_"Look, Daring. Foreigner wants to protect his precious thing, and the human isn't afraid of him at all. They are friends. They are special."_

_"No! You're wrong!"_ Except what Bear Brain says is the only thing that makes _sense_ when I look at them, but how can that be?! All humans are supposed to be bad!

 

The troop comes. Foreigner is an alpha, but he's small and alone and crazy, and I think maybe they will kill him. I don't want to see a nightwing die. I think that maybe they should just let him fly away with his strange human thing and then nothing bad will have to happen.

 

They fight so long and so loud that the rest of the flock finally wakes up and comes to help. Bear Brain runs out to stop them.

 

_"No! Wait! There is no danger, it's just a misunderstanding!"_

 

No one listens to him because he's only Bear Brain. I'm only Annoying Orphan, so they won't listen to me either, so I don't even try to tell them even though I know Bear Brain is right. They also don't listen to Foreigner.

 

Nobody listens. Can't they see how the human is _right there under Foreigner's belly_ but isn't even _trying_ to tear him apart? Maybe Foreigner is crazy, but the human is, too. If it doesn't try to hurt us, then we don't have to kill it. I want to get closer so I can smell it better.

 

Foreigner can't protect his precious thing against the whole troop. I'm sad to think that I will see the human die anyway even though now I don't want it to, but then everyone is surprised when a two-head comes to protect the human, too.

 

...Except I can't see it. I can _smell it_ , it's _right there_ about to shoot, but where is it?!

 

...Did the human _make it_?!?! Can humans make a dragon appear out of nowhere? I don't understaaaaand....

 

I think maybe it's a very special and clever human. No wonder Foreigner likes it.

 

He and the whole flock are yelling at each other now. No one will notice me because I am so silent and stealthy like a shadow.

 

_"Daring, where are you going?"_

 

Bear Brain notices me, but he's Bear Brain so he doesn't count. _"I don't want you to see me. Look at something else."_

_"Okay, but are you doing something dangerous?"_

 

He's the one who kept saying the human isn't dangerous. _"No."_

_"Okay."_ He looks away.

 

I am silent and stealthy like a shadow again. Foreigner doesn't notice me. The human doesn't notice me either until I'm close enough to pounce on it. I don't feel like pouncing on it because it's still a human and a little scary, but I could pounce on it if I wanted to.

 

Its eyes look at me and I don't like it. What is it going to do? If it tries to hurt me, I'll bite it. I can't make good fire yet, but I can bite, and humans have no scales to protect them so I can hurt it a lot before it hurts me.

 

"Hey...it's okay, little guy."

 

What do those noises mean? Is it trying to talk?? Why would it talk if its noises don't mean anything?

 

It's getting closer, its paw looks so funny-- No no _no_ , you are not allowed to touch me! Stay away!

 

It obeys a little bit. I think maybe it will stay low and small so I can go smell it. But then it says, _"I am not a threat, please greet me gently,"_ and its giving me its trust so it must be crazy because now I can hurt it really bad, but I don't want to.

 

Its eyes are gone, so now I can look at its funny little paw as much as I want. It's so _soft_ and the claws are so dull and useless, but it looks nice to touch and lick. It smells like charcoal, so I will call the human Charcoal Paws. Since he has a name now I guess he's a person and not a monster. _"Okay. Gentle hello."_

_"Nervous!"_

 

Hee. Finally I get to be the big scary one, and I like it. I won't hurt you, Charcoal Paws, I will be nice so you'll be grateful to me. The paw _does_ feel nice to touch, I knew it would! I want to bite it.

 

_"Don't. Touch. My. Precious. Thing."_

Oops. I forgot to be silent and stealthy like a shadow, and now everyone can see me.

 

_"GET AWAY FROM MY HUMAN!!!"_

 

Aah! Hey! It isn't fair, I wasn't even hurting it! Him. The not-monster human.

 

The human jumps at me and I'm scared but it's--

 

Shielding me?? "Whoa, Toothless, wait! It's okay, bud, he's a friend!"

 

Hee. Two halves are arguing at each other because of me. I'm special.

 

Oh no oh no oh no Alpha's here I'm in trouble I was bad I'm sorry I'm sorry I'll stay away from the bad foreigner and the weird person-human...!

 

Alpha doesn't see me because He's too busy fighting Foreigner. Maybe He will still not see me even if He looks, because I'm here behind Bear Brain now and Bear Brain put a wing over me to hide me. I like Bear Brain very much, he is my very good dear friend, he will protect me. I should give him a better name than 'Bear Brain.'

 

 _"I don't think you did anything bad, Little Friend,"_ Bear Brain says. _"I mean, Big Friend. Except you're not big. Don't be afraid."_

 

 _"I have a new name for you,"_ I say, very quiet so Alpha won't notice us. _"My new name for you is Friend."_

 

Bear Brain licks me. Except that's not his name anymore because he is my friend now. I'd rather have a good stupid friend than a mean smart one. _"I'm very happy because I'm your friend and you're my friend,"_ he says.

_"Friends protect each other,"_ I remind him, and he licks me again.

 

_"Don't be afraid."_

 

Why does he keep telling me that? I'm not scared, I'm just lying here because it's comfortable, though I hope Friend will not move because it's very comfortable and nice here behind him where nobody can see me, especially Alpha.

 

_"THE HUMAN IS MY PRECIOUS THING."_

 

Foreigner is so angry and frustrated, and protection-scared. I feel sorry for him. And they should stop calling him crazy because he's not crazy, just strange.

 

_"This human is not a monster! He feels love!"_

 

I want to see a human who can feel love, I really really really do. That is an amazing and interesting thing. Charcoal Paws and Foreigner would be _so fun fun fun_ to play with, I wish Alpha would just go awaaaay...!

 

Foreigner shows us his precious thing, and I look out from Friend's wing so that I can smell the human. I think Charcoal Paws wants to play with us, too. I wish wish wish Alpha would go away!

 

 _"How can a_ human _be your other half?!"_

_"That makes no sense!"_

_"It's not a dragon! It can't be your other half!"_

_"How can anyone possibly look at that thing and see_ you _?!"_

 

I didn't think our flock was stupid, but now I wonder if they are. Can't they _see_? Can't they _smell_? Charcoal Paws hasn't attacked Foreigner by now, so I don't think he ever will. Foreigner thinks this human is the best thing in the whole entire world, and Charcoal Paws loves Foreigner and trusts him. OBVIOUSLY. I think my flock is stupid to not see that. I don't like being trapped with a stupid flock.

 

Foreigner marks his precious thing as _mine mine mine MINE_ , and Charcoal Paws doesn't like it but he thinks it's a little funny and he doesn't protest much. I want to play with them so muuuuuuch, when will everyone go awaaaaaaay...?

 

Then my stupid flock thinks that Foreigner meant to eat the human. EW. Humans are so much not-food that we can tell just by _smelling_ , we don't have to taste. Of COURSE Foreigner wasn't trying to eat him; no one would eat his own other half, anyway! Stupid flock! Even Friend who I used to call Bear Brain is smarter than them!!!

 

_"Let us FLY. Then you'll see. When we fly, we are one, not two."_

 

What--? What?! A human, fly?! Charcoal Paws can fly with Foreigner?! That is an amazing and very much interesting thing! I want to see it! I want to see a human who flies with a dragon! I hope they will let these strange very much interesting halves show us. I hope--

 

_"Enough."_

 

Alpha is still angry. Alpha never lets me have fun. I can't say I don't like Alpha, but I'm thinking I would like to be a in a different flock. I would be happy to be in a flock where a dragon and a human can be two halves and love each other and fly together and not try to kill each other.

 

Alpha is angry, but I think Foreigner is angrier. They argue argue argue, then Foreigner shoots at his human to show us how harmless Charcoal Paws is.

 

I thought he missed. I thought he only pretended to shoot, but Charcoal Paws is hurt anyway, so I don't understand. _"Friend? What happened? How did Charcoal Paws get hurt when Foreigner didn't hit him?"_

_"It's because they are friends,"_ Friend says sadly. _"This is the kind of hurting that only people who love each other can do."_

 

What? I don't understand at all. People who love each other aren't supposed to hurt each other. And look, the two halves are together and telling each other _I love You I love You I love You_ like two halves are supposed to, but now they're fighting again and Charcoal Paws is so afraid and I _don't like_ seeing two halves doing things like this to each other. Alpha should have let them be happy, but now everyone is scared and sad and upset and I _don't like it_.

 

Maybe Alpha is a bad alpha. That's not true, but maybe it is. I don't like being scared, and I don't know why I have to be scared; why is everything so bad bad bad when there is no danger?! It's wrong and it doesn't make sense! I don't like it here, I don't like what's happening, Friend is the only one I like and now he's pushing me down and licking me and comforting me so that I won't be so scared and sad.

 

_"Everything will end all right, Friend Who Says He Is Not Little."_

 

I whimper at him so he will keep comforting me. Except I don't like that name, I will think of a better name he can call me.

 

 _"Look, Friend,"_ says Friend. _"It's better now. I don't think anything bad will happen now."_

 

I look and it's still not good, but at least Charcoal Paws isn't hurt anymore and that makes me feel better. Foreigner provokes him a lot, very much, but his other half doesn't get angry at all and that makes me feel better. _"I think that Charcoal Paws is brave, even though he's just a human,"_ I tell Friend. I know that other halves are supposed to trust each other with everything, _everything_ , but I don't understand it because I think I'm too young.

 

I can't ever offer myself to anyone like that, not even Friend that I love most, but Charcoal Paws is saying _"Please kill me if You want to"_ to his other half and it's very amazing that anyone can trust like that, but _especially a human_. He really is a very special human. It's okay that Foreigner loves him so very much a lot, because his strange crazy human who's like a dragon is very much deserving it.

 

 _"There! If that didn't make you see, then you are BLIND!"_ Foreigner screams at Alpha. I think he's very right even though he's arguing with my alpha. I think Foreigner needs a better name, because I wish he wasn't a foreigner, I wish we were in the same flock. I will call him Shield instead, because I think he is always always always protecting his small very weak precious thing, but it's okay because he loves him so much that he's glad to do it.

 

 _"_ He _is the reason I am alpha, I conquered a great sea-king and took its flock so that my human would be safe!"_

 

What?! What?! THAT is why Shield is an alpha?! Oooohhhh, oh oh oh oh that is amazing, that is very amazing, two-halves love is so very strong and powerful I want it I want it I _want it_ , I must find a precious special human to love very much and protect, Charcoal Paws is weak but I think he makes his Shield sooooooo strong, I want to be strong like that and beat a SEA-KING and have a whole good flock of my own who will be good and smart and not mean to me and stupid all the time...!

 

_To be continued...._

 

Author's Notes: This story ended up being so long that it broke my one-shot limit, and I had to divide it up into a short multi-chapter. It's all drafted except for half of the epilogue, which I'm having trouble with.

 

**By the way, kiriban's open to anyone who has a FanfictionDotNet account; check my profile.**

 

There's other stories I should have been working on instead of this one, but at least this was one of the higher-priority fics to use for procrastination purposes. There seems to be more interest in _A Small Addition to Berk's Flock_ than Slyfoot's story, but still.


	4. Slyfoot's perspective, part 2

**_He's Not Dangerous_ ** **[Slyfoot version] -** **Part 2** **(rough draft)**

**A DreamWorks' _How to Train Your Dragon_ fanfic by Raberba girl**

 

A/N: Sorry, Mugetsu. XD But it'll change again before the end...!

 

o.o.o

Alpha goes away. He FINALLY goes away. I am soooooooo happy, now there's no danger and no one who's scared and sad and upset, now I can go and smell the human all I want and lick him and bite him and play with him and tell him how interesting and fun he is.

 

Except other dragons want to do the same thing, NO IT'S NOT FAIR THEY'RE _BIGGER_ THAN ME AND THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM AND THEY REACH CHARCOAL PAWS FIRST...! It's not fair! I want him!

 

FRIEND REACHES HIM FIRST. FRIEND YOU TRAITOR, YOU ARE NOT MY FRIEND I AM CALLING YOU BEAR BRAIN AGAIN.

 

 _"Hello!"_ Bear Brain tells Charcoal Paws, _"You are a good person, so I like you! I know you won't hurt us."_

 

Charcoal Paws makes a funny sound. Then Bee Eater starts investigating him and knocks him right into Bear Brain and Bear Brain is surprised, _hah_. Shield is angry too, but no one listens to him now because Alpha is gone and Charcoal Paws is not dangerous and he is very a lot interesting so everyone wants him.

 

But I want him _most_ , and now Bear Brain's big heavy body is out of the way so I can reach the human, FINALLY. I want his funny little paws most, I like them very much. But I only just touched one of them and then the bigger dragons yell at me.

 

_"Orphan!"_

_"Get away!"_

_"We outrank you; we get him first!"_

 

It's not fair it's not fair it's not faaaaiiiiir, I HATE being small and young and no one to help me except Bear Brain, it's not fair, _I_ want the human, I want him I want him I want him I don't like being this very low rank at all!!!!

 

Shield very much doesn't like being ignored. He chases everyone away and grabs his precious thing to take him away, nooooooooo, I barely got to play with him at all, I don't want him to go away!

 

"Wait, Toothless, wait, hold on...!" Charcoal Paws says _"Let go of me, I want to stay!"_ I'm so glad, maybe I won't lose him after all.

 

 _"Why are you always so_ difficult _??"_

 

Shield is upset, but he loves his human and I know he's going to give in, especially when Charcoal Paws pleads. He's making very many noises that don't mean anything, except I think it's his human way of saying _"Please please please please let's stay."_ Maybe Shield understands what all those strange noises mean. I want to know, too; I want to learn.

 

Shield finally lets his human come greet us again. Charcoal Paws is too _small_ there is not _enough_ of him for all of us to play with. Only maybe two or three dragons can reach him at the same time, and he makes happy noises at them and pats them with his paws that smell like charcoal, but none of those dragons are me and I don't like that.

 

He picks up his human weapons again but not to hurt us, he puts one of them on his foreleg and the other one on his hind leg and they _stick_. They _stick_ to him, they don't fall off!! I don't understand it, I want to know how he does it! _"How does he make his weapons stick to him?!"_ I ask Shield.

 

 _"Half Of Me can do anything,"_ Shield grumbles. He is upset because his precious thing won't go away with him and be safe. _"He is very much clever."_

_"Then why do you call him stupid?"_

_"Sometimes He's stupider than a hatchling, but sometimes He's smarter than me and does things I never thought of. He's never normal smart."_ Shield rests his head on his front paws as he watches his other half. _"It's okay. I love Him when He's smart and I love Him when He's stupid, too."_

 

Bear Brain can reach Charcoal Paws again. I go over to them and I find room and I can reach the funny little paws again, so I get to bite one like I've been wanting to do very much. I am gentle and don't use any teeth because Charcoal Paws is a weakling and I don't want to hurt him and Shield will get very angry at me if I do. The human paw with its long narrow soft bending claws _does_ feel very nice to bite, I like it.

 

"Eeeaauughh, dragon drool...you guys are so gross," Charcoal Paws tells me, and I don't know what he's saying but I hear affection in his voice.

 

Playing with Charcoal Paws is so fun, but it's so late and everyone is tired. More and more of them go back to the nest so they can sleep again. I like it because it's easier now to be close to Charcoal Paws and smell him.

 

His weapon that's not a blade so I don't know why it's a weapon smells like metal and human and fireskin and two-head. I ask Shield how two dragons can fit into a tiny piece of metal, but Shield says there are no dragons inside, it's only their saliva and their gas.

 

 _How_?! I ask him that too, but Shield only says that his other half is crazy/smart and doesn't make any sense a lot of times, so his dragon flockmates just have to trust him. I don't like that explanation, it's not an explanation because I still don't _know_ , but when I ask Charcoal Paws, he won't answer me either, he just makes a happy noise and scratches my chin and it feels _so so so good_ that I forget to keep asking.

 

Bear Brain is investigating Charcoal Paws's head-fur. The outer layer of fur is stiff and sticky from when Shield licked it, but Bear Brain says that the fur underneath feels so soft and nice on his nose. He starts to lick the back of Charcoal Paws's neck, but Charcoal Paws yelps and scrambles away. I don't think he likes being licked, I don't know why.

 

Charcoal Paws has so little head-fur, I wonder how it can keep him warm. Shield says it doesn't. _"Humans use animal fur and dead things to keep themselves warm instead, but sometimes that's not enough, either. Then they have to make their stay-fires and cuddle with us sometimes just to stay warm enough."_ I feel sorry for Charcoal Paws, so I lick him even though he doesn't like it.

 

I can tell he loves me so much, because he smells so happy and he keeps caressing me and crooning at me. Then he wraps both of his forelegs around me and _squeezes_ , what?! What?! He's threatening me?! I jerk away and bare my teeth and wonder why why how he can threaten me when he still smells happy. Shield laughs at me, so I'm offended. _"It's not a threat. Humans do that to show affection."_

_"Huh?!"_

 

Charcoal Paws is crooning apologetically at me, reaching to me with his forepaws. "Aw, hey, little guy, sorry, it was just a hug. Just a hug, see? You're so cute." He scratches the sweet spot under my chin again, and it feels so good I have to forgive him.

 

Half of his hind leg smells like metal and wood and not like a leg at all. Shield says it's because Charcoal Paws lost his real leg, so he _made_ a new one for himself.

 

He _made_ it. He _made_ a leg, how?! He's walking around like normal even though one of his hind legs is a not-leg!!

 

_"Half Of Me is amazing."_

 

He is...he iiiiiisssss, aaaahhh, I love this human, I want him!

 

Charcoal Paws pulls away from us and goes to look for something.

 

 _"He is hungry?"_ Bear Brain asks Shield.

 

_"No. A lot of times stupid Half Of Me doesn't eat even when His body is hungry. I know He's going to do a crazy interesting Half Of Me thing instead."_

 

We all watch this very so much interesting human.

 

Charcoal Paws comes back to us, carrying a big stick instead of food. "Look, guys, I wanna show you something." He puts the tip of the stick on the ground, and then he drags it. He drags and drags, and it's confusing.

 

 _"Look at all the marks he's making on the ground,"_ someone says. _"Are they human marks?"_

 

We all look to see what they say, but they don't say anything, they're just scratches in the dirt.

 

_"I don't understand."_

_"What's he saying, Humanhalf?"_

_"Territory?? Food?? Mating??"_

 

Shield went to curl up on a boulder and sulk. He's jealous that his other half is more interested in us than him. _"Figure it out yourself."_ So we look some more.

 

Charcoal Paws is crazy, so I think probably he doesn't want normal things. He loves us, so he wants us. I bet these marks are saying _"I love nightwings, they are amazing."_ Some of the marks are even shaped like very flat nightwing wings. And...and--

 

Curious understands it the same time I do, but she says it before I can say anything. _"NIGHTWING!! It's a nightwing!"_

 

The others tell her she's wrong and what she said is stupid, these are just meaningless marks in the dirt and not a dragon, but _they're_ the ones who are wrong, because I can see it now. I see the marks that are eyes and the marks that are head plates and the parts that are a neck and chest and....

 

It's so very confusing that my eyes don't feel good and I keep not seeing the nightwing in the marks until I try hard to see it again, but I know that Charcoal Paws somehow made a nightwing with his marks. They're crazy human marks that still don't mean anything, but I understand now. It's scary and exciting at the same time. Human minds are _scary_ and very so much crazy, but also so so much interesting, I'm excited.

 

Curious ran to get a stick so that she could make real marks and not crazy ones, and now we all want sticks, too. I get a stick and I press the tip of it to the dirt like Charcoal Paws did, and I drag the stick so that it makes marks. They are not strange human marks, they are good marks that say something.

 

I draw lines to show that there is a human but he's a good human, and he's crazy but in a good way. I want to show that his name is Charcoal Paws and I like him very much and he loves me, but there's no ROOM, grrr! When I try to drag my stick to make the 'name is paws that smell like charcoal' part, I can't because Spine Shredder's 'new scary fun things' marks are _in the way_. He snaps at me, so I can't make my marks and I get mad, but I can't do anything because he outranks me and he will beat me if I challenge him.

 

But the others are running out of room too, and they get mad and challenge each other and forget to keep marking. I see that they are distracted. I see that because they are fighting, now none of them are close to me, and there is no room for my marks on the ground, but there will be room if their marks are gone.

 

When I see that Spine Shredder is very busy and distracted because Curious is gnawing on his head, I rub my paw on his marks until they're gone, and now I have room to finish making _my_ marks, heh.

 

"Whoa, hey, guys, wait! It's okay, it's just-- Come on, we'll find another-- And _you_! Stop laughing!" Now it's Charcoal Paws who's upset and his other half who's amused. I think this gentle human doesn't like to see us fight, but Shield thinks it's funny because we're all distracted now and he gets to be close to his precious thing again.

 

Some of the ones who lose their fights go away back to the nest so they can sleep again. But even the ones who win are too tired to keep making marks for very long, and their aeries are too far away, so they just curl up to sleep right here. We are close to someone with a precious thing right now; even if danger approaches, he will keep watch over his precious thing and fight to keep it safe, and if we stay close, we'll be safe, too. Shield is an alpha. He's not our alpha, but he can still protect us, and he will because his other half loves us.

 

Bear Brain climbs right up to Charcoal Paws, cringing submissively when Shield growls at him, but ignoring Shield when Shield says to go away. _"I will be good and lowly, yes, but I won't go away because I love this creature and want to be close to him,"_ Bear Brain whines hopefully, as if he thinks he can make Shield not be mad at him even though he's provoking him.

 

 _"NO! No, I don't like it, I_ don't like _it, everyone loves Half Of Me and He_ loves them back _, will He have enough love left for me?!?!"_

 

Charcoal Paws comforts his other half and reassures him, trying to quiet him. I love Charcoal Paws and I will be very unhappy if I go away from him and I won't be able to sleep, so I fly up to the boulder too and I curl up close to Charcoal Paws and rest my head on his very nice soft leg. Shield gets angry at me too for being close to his precious thing, but I can tell that Charcoal Paws likes us to be here, so I know I can stay.

 

Charcoal Paws tells his other half _"I love You I love You I love You, please shut up because it's okay and I will stay close to You even though I love and am close to these other dragons too,"_ so Shield finally is quiet again. He comforts himself with the scent of his other half and by licking him to reassert his claim on him. They talk to each other in their strange two-halves way.

 

I don't understand what they're telling each other but I like listening to them, and I fall asleep as I listen.

 

_To be continued...._

 

Author's Notes: **I realized that I totally forgot to clarify it in the previous chapter, but yes, Bear Brain is Pinecone. ^^**

**Ftr, kiriban's still open to the first person with an FFN account who requests a fic that I'm capable of writing~**

**Thank you soooo much to everyone who reviewed! :D** I think I responded to all the ones on AO3 and DA. I haven't gotten a chance to answer the FFN ones yet (FFN's messaging system is a pain *sweatdrop*), but I will hopefully get to soon, since I really appreciate everyone who took the time to leave feedback. :)


	5. Slyfoot's perspective, part 3

**_He's Not Dangerous_ ** **[Slyfoot version] -** **Part 3** **(rough draft)**

**A DreamWorks' _How to Train Your Dragon_ fanfic by Raberba girl**

 

A/N: I recommend that you read my fic _The Dragon Queen of Berk_ before you read this chapter and the next.

 

o.o.o

 

When we wake up again, it's the normal waking-up time instead of the middle of the day. I get up and yawn and streeeetch~

 

The rest of the flock is awake too and starting to fly, and everyone is wondering about Shield. I don't know why until I look at his tail because they're all talking about his tail, and I see that one fin is a strange color. I sniff it, and it doesn't smell like a tail fin at all.

 

 _"That's my other half's fin,"_ Shield explains to us. He is smug when he says, _"I lost my flesh fin but it's okay because I'm not crippled, I can still fly because Half Of Me gave me a new fin and we fly together instead."_

 

This is amazing.

 

 _"Very so much amazing,"_ Shield agrees, _"me and my other half and the two of us together."_

_"How, how?!"_ everyone is wondering. _"_ How _can this be?! How can you fly with only one fin and a not-fin!"_ We very much can't wait to see this impossible thing happen, this dragon who makes a human fly and this human who makes a dragon fly.

 

 _"Half Of Me, let's show them how we best brother-alphas can fly!"_ Shield is doing something very strange, baring his teeth at his other half but with his teeth retracted and feeling happy happy happy. Charcoal Paws bares his teeth at his other half and feels happy too, and we can see his teeth but they don't look scary, his mouth looks just as harmless as Shield's does right now.

 

It must be a _very_ strange two-halves communication, somehow it means something very good to them, but I don't know what. I try to do it, too - I retract my teeth and I try to bare my gums, but it's hard to pull my lips back like that, I don't know why it looked so easy for Shield.

 

I'm about to try again, but a sound startles me and I look and Charcoal Paws is on Shield's back. Shield's not-fin is moving just like his real fin is, they're jumping into the air, Shield only has one real fin so he should be falling, but he _doesn't_.

 

I have to rush to catch up. Charcoal Paws and Shield are so happy together that their happiness smells the same, like they're just one person instead of two, and they climb and climb for no reason, I think just for the fun of rushing into the sky.

 

It's AMAZING. I thought I understood before, but now I _very_ understand. They really are two halves, they really do love and trust each other enough to be each other's wings, it _very so much doesn't matter_ that Charcoal Paws is human (he's a human?! I forgot...), because his heart and his beloved's heart are still the same.

 

They are reckless and flashy like the bravest fledglings. They don't hunt or stay stealthy like adults and alphas are supposed to, they don't care about hunting or hiding; all they care about is wind and joy and freedom. I'm a fledgling too, but I can't keep up with them, none of us can keep up with them because sometimes they cavort like fledglings do, but sometimes they do crazy things, I think because they are half-human and think of stupid fun not-dragon things to do.

 

Like FALLING.

 

On PURPOSE.

 

They climb and climb, it starts getting hard to breathe so we call to them to come back because it's dangerous, but they keep climbing.

Then Charcoal Paws shifts backward, we think it's a stupid human mistake because of course he throws off Shield's balance, but then Shield _folds his wings_ in the _middle of the sky_ and _lets himself fall_! Not diving, just FALLING, and their shrieks are HAPPY!! They're not scared to fall; they're _excited_! Crazy crazy crazy foreigner and his crazy other half human!!

 

Everyone is swarming around them and screaming at them, warning them of danger danger danger and wondering how to catch them without hurting them. I'm not screaming; I just dive beside them and watch, because I want to see what they'll do. My heart is beating so hard in my chest that it almost hurts. They are doing this on purpose, they are crazy enough to be dangerous on purpose but not crazy enough to die on purpose, so somehow they'll do something amazing, and I want to see it happen.

 

Charcoal Paws fidgets, and I don't see it at first because it's so crazy I can't believe it, but now I _see_ that he is _not connected to his other half anymore_. He's not holding on, he's not frightened, and Shield is not frightened either to see his other half plummeting with no wings at _all_ , they just make their two-halves bared-teeth signal at each other as if it's a joke.

 

 _Crazy_.

 

 _Amazing_.

 

Some of the others are almost panicked enough to catch them even if it hurts them. _"No, shut up, it's okay,"_ Shield tells them, but they don't believe him because he's too crazy. So he says, _"Come back, Half Of Me."_

 

Charcoal Paws reaches out for his other half again and slides back onto his back. Shield opens his wings and his fin again like he's supposed to, and Charcoal Paws somehow opens his fin too even though he's not touching it, and they go back to flying properly as if they don't even know what a very so much crazy thing they just did. _"It's fun being half of a human,"_ Shield says.

 

They fly with us for a little while; not hunting or scouting, just watching us and being happy. But then Charcoal Paws starts to get a little bit sad, I don't know why. No one notices except me because I'm flying so close to him, and I wonder why he's sad.

 

"We'd better start heading back, bud...."

 

 _"Going home,"_ Shield says.

 

 _"What?! What?!"_ When they break away from the flock, I follow them. _"No, no, don't leave! I love this very so much interesting thing your other half!"_

_"Me and Half Of Me are going home. We left our flocklings behind with surrogates, but we must go back now and be good strong alphas to our flock."_ He says it in a strange way that I've never heard before.

 

 _"Alphas? You are brother-alphas of one nest??"_ I didn't know there could be two rulers in the same nest. _"How can that be?? Why does your flock pay homage to him as your consort if he is alpha with you instead??"_

_"I am alpha of our dragons and He is my consort, so our dragons honor Him as my consort. He is alpha of our humans and I am His consort. Humans don't know how to pay homage because they're stupid and can't make the right smells, but they still know that He is mine and I am His and that we rule our flock together."_

What a very so much strange thing, I didn't know there could be a crazy dragon-and-human, two-alphas flock like that. But Shield and Charcoal Paws are so strange and amazing that I don't feel surprised, and they love each other so much that I know they can take good care of their strange flock together.

 

The others who love this dragon-hearted human foreigner tell him goodbye and return to the flock, so only me and Bear Brain are left. I don't want to go back. I don't know what will happen, it's kind of scary so I don't want to think about it, but I want to follow this wonderful person Charcoal Paws until I know what to do.

 

 _"Where are we going, Friend?"_ Bear Brain asks me.

 

_"We are following Charcoal Paws."_

_"But I think Good Human is going home to his nest."_

_"We are,"_ Shield says.

 

Finally Bear Brain says, _"Are you going to go visit Good Human's nest, Friend?"_

_"I'm going to follow Charcoal Paws, that's what I'm doing!! Leave me alone!"_

_"Our nest is too far for you to fly all the way,"_ Shield says.

 

_"NO! I can fly as far as you can!"_

Shield snorts. _"No, you can't."_

_"You are still very young, Friend. I don't think you can yet,"_ Bear Brain says.

 

_"Shut up!!"_

_"Why don't you want to stay with your own flock?"_ Shield asks me.

 

_"I don't know."_

_"...You're allowed to love my human because He likes when people love Him, but you can't have Him because He's MINE first, okay?"_

_"Yes, I know, duh!"_

_"I have to make sure! Because stupid Half Of Me loves so so so so SOOOOOOOOO very many people who aren't me, I am jealous anxious scared!!!"_

 

...I didn't know that. I didn't know that someone can love someone else so much that it hurts. Maybe I don't want an other half, I don't know....

 

 _"I think it's okay, Humanhalf,"_ Bear Brain says. _"If Good Human loves you most even though he also loves so many others, that means you are the most special and he won't ever abandon you."_

_"...Half Of Me, I can't reach You, but if I could, I would lick You and claim You and comfort myself, okay?"_

 

"Easy, bud. You all right there?"

 

_"Stupid human that I love."_

 

Charcoal Paws croons to his other half and strokes him until he is reassured and quiet again.

 

We fly and fly and fly and fly and flyyyyyyyyy. We are tired because we were awake during the day, and my wings start to ache but I don't say anything because I'm strong and I _can_ fly as far at the others can.

 

We fly and fly and fly and fly and _fly_. How are they still able to stay so high and go so fast?! I'm SO TIRED, I can't say anything because I'm strong and I can do this, but I can't keep up with them, they are more and more higher than me and farther than me, I fly and fly and....

 

I panic because I'm falling, I think maybe I was a little bit asleep but I'm not anymore, I'm panicking and crying and flapping my wings so I don't fall but it _hurts_ , and Bear Brain calls to me so I know where they are even though I can't see them anymore. I follow his calls, and my wings hurt so much now that I'm saying _"It hurts it hurts it hurts"_ over and over, and I don't care now who can hear me.

 

They were right. I'm too young, I'm _weak_ , I can't keep up, I will fly until I fall into the ocean and die. I should have stayed home with my flock. But even now I don't want to be home, I want to be with Charcoal Paws, but I'm not with Charcoal Paws, I'm all alone hurting and hurting with nothing but Bear Brain's voice far away, I'm going to die like this and I hate it, I'm _so_ frustrated and angry and saaaaaad...!

 

I think the ground is close, but I don't care. I just want to die now. I land so awful that it's more like crashing than landing, I don't care, I want to die, but I smell Charcoal Paws's human/charcoal/worry scent nearby and I think maybe I'm dying a lot sad but a tiny bit happy....

 

o.o.o.o.o

 

I wake up and see that I was sleeping with Charcoal Paws, his foreleg is draped over me. I'm surprised and happy. I lick him and tell him how glad I am that I'm still alive and that I'm close to him. He doesn't like it and he grumbles when he wakes up, but he is happy to see me and he scratches my head on the best spots, I very much like it.

 

Bear Brain is settled down to sleep. He watches us stretching and moving, and Charcoal Paws chittering to himself as he adjusts the human things that are wrapped around himself and Shield. _"We're leaving??"_ Bear Brain finally asks.

 

 _"Yes,"_ Shield says. _"My whole flock are day creatures, so now I am one, too. The sun is up, so now we'll travel instead of sleep here."_

_"Oh noooo...!"_ Bear Brain is disappointed because he's tired and wanted to sleep, but he gets up again and shakes himself and spreads his wings to follow us. I'm not tired at all, I don't know why, maybe because I slept when it was dark instead. Everything's all mixed up!

 

We fly some more. My wings are still sore, but I feel a lot better now than I did before, because I rested and my belly is full of fish that me and the others caught.

 

"Seriously, guys, we're going all the way home to Berk. Are you _sure_ you want to come with us?"

 

Charcoal Paws sounds like he's asking something, but I don't know what it is.

 

 _"He doesn't know why you're still following us,"_ Shield says. _"He's probably worried about you."_

_"We're following you because we love you,"_ I tell Charcoal Paws. But he doesn't change at all, so I think he didn't understand. _"How do I tell him so that he'll understand?"_

_"Retract your teeth and bare your gums. He'll know you want to come with us."_

 

I curl my head down so that Charcoal Paws can see me bare my gums at him. It's not as hard to do this time. It feels strange, like I'm telling him I'm mad at him even though I'm not, but he bares his teeth back at me in that strange happy way, so I know he understood my real feelings, but I don't know why. _"Humans are strange."_

_"Yes, very so much,"_ Shield agrees.

 

_To be concluded...._

 

Author's Notes: Ftr, "Humanhalf" is a common post-HTTYD1 dragon name for Toothless by foreigners, just like "Charcoal Paws" is a common dragon name for Hiccup.


	6. Slyfoot's perspective, part 4

**_He's Not Dangerous_ ** **[Slyfoot version] -** **Part 4** **(rough draft)**

**A DreamWorks' _How to Train Your Dragon_ fanfic by Raberba girl**

 

I'm very tired when we're finally greeted by a guardian of Shield's flock, but not tired enough to die, so it's better.

 

The guardian is a two-head, who is curious to see me and Bear Brain. I'm scared to see two humans clinging to his necks. I remember again that Charcoal Paws is a human, but he's also a lot a dragon and he's wonderful and good, but I'm scared that maybe these two new humans are monsters like they're supposed to be, I don't know. I hide a little bit behind Shield even though the humans act like they don't notice me, they just chitter meaninglessly at Charcoal Paws and he chitters back.

 

The two-head says that except for Shield, me and Bear Brain are the first nightwings they've seen in a very long time.

 

_"We came from very far away."_

_"Consort is happy to find more nightwings that he loves,"_ the two-head says.

 

 _"Yes, very happy. He makes me jealous,"_ Shield pouts.

 

The humans notice us now, and I growl to warn them to stay away from me. But they just get excited and happy, and I don't know what they're chittering so frantically, but the two-head who carries them is a little exasperated. _"Why do they argue even when they're happy...?"_

 

Charcoal Paws is a little exasperated, too. He and Shield leave the dragon-and-human guardians behind, and me and Bear Brain have to rush to catch up.

 

We get closer and closer to the nest, and I get more and more scared because there are _humans_ , SO MANY, all clustering together and roaring up at us, and they don't smell angry but I'm still frightened and I wish that Charcoal Paws and Shield weren't headed _right toward them_. Bear Brain is...braver than me...but only because he's stupid. He follows the alphas down to greet their flock, but I'm smarter so I land on top of a dead wood cave instead. Very too many of them are staring at me; I hiss at them to tell them to _stay away from me_.

 

There are two human females who are especially waiting for Charcoal Paws. His chittering sounds a little anxious as he greets them. I'm watching the older female approach Bear Brain as if she's a dragon instead of a human, and I wonder if she will threaten him or greet him, but suddenly I'm being investigated!!

 

Dragons from this flock are approaching me, and they act like they don't even notice any of the scary humans all around us. A two-head sniffs at me and little venom-biters scrabble around me and a rock-eater greets me from the ground, and two spinetails perch on the dead wood cave so they can examine me, and a fireskin is crawling up the side of the cave to sniff at me.

 

 _"Go away!"_ I tell them, _"You're scary!"_

_"A new nightwing? After so long?"_

_"Look, there's another one there with Dragonheart,"_ one of the spinetails says, looking at Bear Brain and Charcoal Paws's older human female.

_"I guess that Consort is very happy,"_ the rock-eater says happily.

_"I guess that Alpha is jealous,"_ the fireskin laughs.

 

They won't leave me alone, so I hurry down to Charcoal Paws because he's the only one who makes me feel safe. But he's too _small_ to hide me and he's too close to the humans, so I hide behind Shield his other half instead.

 

 _"They're not gonna hurt you,"_ Shield tells me. He thinks my distress is funny because he's jealous of me and he's not afraid like I am.

 

_"Protect me! You're an alpha! Protect me!!!"_

_"I don't have to protect you if there's no danger to protect you from."_ He walks away and leaves me all alone and exposed to the scary humans, noooo!

 

They're not attacking, but they're too _close_ and making SO MUCH NOISE that I don't understand, why?! What's happening?! WHY IS NOBODY ELSE SCARED?!?! Too many eyes eyes _eyes_ staring at me, I'm frightened, I have to make them go away, I can't make very good fire yet but I can make it a little bit, I will protect myself--!

 

"Whoa, whoa! Slyfoot, don't, it's okay!" Charcoal Paws hurries back to me, he is protection-anxious for his flock. He puts his paw on my nose, and he doesn't say it right but I know anyway that he doesn't want me to shoot. I _don't_ _like_ it, I'm scared, I know he is alpha and wants to keep his flock safe, but then who will keep ME safe?!?!

 

The humans are roaring in excitement. More of them are looking at Bear Brain than at me, so I think they want him. Bear Brain is frightened and asks Charcoal Paws to protect him; Charcoal Paws chitters soothingly at him and barks out something to his human flocklings. It doesn't mean anything, but maybe they can understand it anyway because they're strange human words instead of real words.

 

Charcoal Paws's younger human female and a spinetail approach together, working as if they're partners. They chase away the other humans until only Charcoal Paws and the female named Dragonheart are left.

 

Dragonheart is greeting me now. I can tell from their scents that she is Charcoal Paws's dam, and that makes me feel a little better, I don't know why. She tells me that she won't hurt me and that she loves me.

 

 _"Why??"_ Why does she love me when she only just met me??

_"Because I think dragons are amazing and beautiful."_

_"Really??"_ That is a little confusing because she's a human, but it makes me happy.

_"Yes. I think you are very so much amazing, Little One."_

 

 _"Really?!"_ I like her. _"But you must give me a much better name than 'Little One'!!"_

_"My male offspring that I love, my 'son,' he named you Sly Foot. May I call you this name?"_

_"What? What?!?"_ Charcoal Paws gave me a name?! When?! _"Sly Foot?! That is a name for me?!"_

_"Yes. He says you are silent and stealthy like a shadow, so he gave you a human name that means something like that."_

Aaaaaaahhhhhhh! I am _very_ so much happy!!!!!!! I love this name! And this human Charcoal Paws and this human Dragonheart, I love everything so much!! _"Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes."_

_"May I please touch you, Sly Foot? You are so adorable and wonderful, if I was a dragon I would lick you all over, but I'm a human so I want to touch you instead."_

 

Her paws feel _so_ nice and find all the very best spots, it feels _so_ good. She caresses me and shows affection to me as if I am a very small hatchling and she is my dam, except 'dam' is not the right word....

 

 _"Older female who loves you and wants to take care of you, a 'mother,'"_ she suggests.

 

_"Yes yes yes. Not my dam, I am too old for a dam now, but I like for you to be a 'mother' who loves me."_

_"Yes yes yes,"_ she agrees, and I suddenly realize that her paws are on my belly, but then I decide that I don't care. It doesn't feel threatening, I don't want to be frightened when I'm close to her, her paws feel so good and I know she would never hurt me. This human whose name is Mother is wonderful and I love her.

 

_"I'm very glad that I followed Charcoal Paws so far here to find you."_

 

 _"Me too,"_ Bear Brain says, and he leans over to tell her that he loves her, too.

 

Mother is amused, I don't know why. "You always call him 'Charcoal Paws'...." She looks at Charcoal Paws and chitters at him in that human way I can't understand. "They're _magnificent_!"

 

He chitters back eagerly, then his other female summons him and they leave. I almost don't notice, I'm too busy and happy playing with Mother instead.

 

A long time later, I go look for Charcoal Paws. It still makes me nervous to see so many humans so close, but I'm so happy from being with Mother that I'm not very frightened anymore.

 

I sneak across the tops of all the dead wood caves until I see Shield dozing on the ground below, right outside the noisiest cave. I go down to look and I see Charcoal Paws inside with another human, a much bigger one with dirty yellow head-fur and two not-paws, and a fat sleeping boulder-eater.

 

"Not that I don't appreciate the help, Hiccup, but I think you're needed more at the Great Hall than you are here."

 

"Yeah, but the Great Hall is way less fun than here...."

 

"Very true, _Chief_."

 

"Fiiiiine; just give me fifteen minutes to finish this up. Then I'll go listen to ridiculously stupid complaints and fix other people's mistakes, I promise."

 

Charcoal Paws isn't very happy, but then he _is_ happy when he sees me. "Heeeyyy, you!" He crouches down so he can scratch and caress me just like Mother did. I love it. "How you likin' Berk so far, huh?" he chirps. "How you likin' Berk~?"

 

The other human makes an amused noise. "Just curious, does this count as part of the fifteen minutes?"

 

"Night Furies~~" Charcoal Paws croons at me as I bat playfully at his foreleg. "Niiiiiight Fuuuuuriiiiiieees." We nuzzle each other's faces.

 

 _"Lazy,"_ Shield growls behind us, _"you let the stay-fire get too low again."_

 

The big boulder-eater shifts his head to belch flame at the coals nearby, and Charcoal Paws screeches in surprise.

 

 _"Half Of Me is busy being alpha,"_ Shield growls at me. _"Stop distracting Him."_

_"Jealous,"_ I taunt. _"Jealous~ I should name you that instead of 'Shield.'"_

_"Go away!"_

 

When Charcoal Paws stops playing with me, I go to investigate the nest. All the dragons here are happy, and the humans are a little bit scary but mostly interesting. There are other animals, too, that are marked with strange scents as if they are sort of flocklings but sort of food, too.

 

I wait until the human leaves the sheep alone, then I sneak close, silent and stealthy like a shadow. Except the sun is shining so they can see me, and they're awake and they can smell me, so they bleat in fear and run away from me. It's _so_ fun to chase them.

 

But then spines crash down in front of me so I have to stop, and the spinetail with a human partner lands in front of me. The human jumps down and approaches me. "NO. _Bad_ Slyfoot, _no_ chasing sheep."

 

I stare at the human. I don't know if I should run away or not. She's a small human and doesn't have any wings to flare and she's not baring her teeth and she's only barking instead of growling, but _somehow_ she's still loud and scary and intimidating and authoritative. I know she doesn't want me to chase the sheep, but I don't know why because her scent isn't on them so they don't belong to her.

 

 _"Companion says to leave the sheep alone,"_ the spinetail tells me.

 

_"They're not her sheep, I can chase them if I want!"_

_"They are our flock sheep; we must take care of them, not harass them. Please go away, Little Nightwing."_

_"I'M NOT LITTLE!!"_

 

I get distracted because the human is approaching too close. I back away--

 

Something hits me, something's behind me, I whirl and leap--

 

It was just dead wood. I shouldn't be scared of dead wood! I sit down and start grooming myself to show that I'm not afraid, but I smell the human close and I'm scared!

 

"Hey, Slyfoot." She's not stern anymore now that I'm on the other side of the wood. She's holding out her paw to me and crooning gently. "Hey there. You really are cute when you're not terrorizing the sheep. C'mere~?"

 

I let her touch me because Charcoal Paws's scent is part of hers, and I want to smell her better. I can tell that she is Charcoal Paws's mate and her body is nurturing a baby inside of her. I like how her soft human paws feel on me, and she knows the right spots to scratch and caress, too.

 

 _"Are all the humans in this nest good and kind and not monsters?"_ I ask the spinetail.

 

_"Yes. Sort of, mostly. None of them are monsters, except a little bit that elderly male who loves sheep. Consort is the best, we all very so much adore him, he was our good wonderful amazing queen before his other half became alpha. Dragonheart is really a dragon who has a human body. I love Companion very much, and...they are good, yes. Very good human flockmates here in this crazy wonderful nest."_

 

After a while, they leave. I'm sleepy, so I go look for a safe place to sleep like nightwings are supposed to during the day. I find Bear Brain deep down in a big cave that's like a real cave and a human cave at the same time, all made of rock but with lots of dead wood and human things inside. He is sleeping in a dead wood niche, so I snuggle close to him and let his warmth and his familiar flockmate scent comfort me until I fall asleep. I decide that I really do like Bear Brain, and I will call him Friend again because I like being close to him.

 

We wake up because it's noisy. It's noisy because many dragons are coming to curl up in niches and fall asleep. Me and Friend are a little confused, so we go out to investigate and we see that it's night when we're supposed to be awake.

 

 _"They are all day creatures in this flock,"_ Friend remembers. _"They're going to sleep now, but we will be awake. What should we do?"_

 

I'm about to say we should hunt, duh, but there's fish right here close, so we can fill our bellies without hunting. _"Let's eat."_ We do, and then we go look for Charcoal Paws.

 

He is standing outside the biggest dead wood cave with some dragons and humans who all have the same troopmate scents. I can't tell if they're all fighting or playing with each other, it seems like both at the same time.

 

When they see us approach, the humans all exclaim over us and chitter at us and caress us. I don't like how some of them touch me, but I like how the other ones touch me. I let Friend get caressed by the strong short human and the two littermates, so that I can be caressed by Charcoal Paws and his mate and the other two humans instead.

 

"Heh...Drago spent so many years failing to track down even a single Night Fury for his army, yet here you are with _three_ of them...."

 

"Guess they can't resist my innate charm. Right, bud?"

 

"Pfft, _what_ charm?"

 

"Enough to steal your girl right out from under your nose~"

 

"Hey!"

 

"Call me Snotlout's girl again and I'll wrench your arm out of its socket."

 

Their scents and voices are like a conversation all on its own. These human troopmates don't need real words or even touch to tease each other and show each other affection and camaraderie.

 

Finally they scatter. Me and Friend follow Charcoal Paws and his other half and his mate and her partner to one of the wood caves. We follow until the two humans start to get a little confused, and the dragons explain that they will all go to sleep soon and there isn't enough room for me and Friend in their aerie.

 

I lick Charcoal Paws to tell him goodbye. Me and Friend wander away again, but we don't know where to go. The whole flock is settling down to sleep, but we have nothing to do because we're not part of this flock (yet....? yet.....?), but we don't want to go back to our old nest.

 

 _"Friend,"_ I say.

_"Yes?"_

_"I don't know what to do. We don't belong here, but I don't think we belong with our old flock anymore."_

_"Why?"_

I remember that Friend is stupid. He would probably be happy if he went back to our old nest, and he would probably be happy if he stayed here. _"...You will be okay. But I don't know if I will be."_

_"Are you lonely, Friend?"_

 

Suddenly I realize that I _am_ lonely. It's not about flocks or humans or long distances or alphas.... I'm lonely. I don't have anywhere to belong, and I'm all alone, I'm alone...!

 

Friend croons at me and licks me and cuddles with me until I'm a little bit comforted. We fly, and we keep watch over this strange dragon-and-human nest. Friend is happy to be flying with me, and I am quiet for a long time so that I can think.

 

o.o.o

 

Author's Notes: If you've read my FFN profile, you'll know that it kind of bugs me when people Fave stuff without leaving any feedback. (If you liked it enough to Fave it, that means you have _something_ to say about it.) Usually I try not to say anything, but it was a bit frustrating to see a higher-than-average number of silent Faves from Part 3. If you Fave, please comment, even if it's only to point out a mistake that needs fixing or an area of weakness that you think can be improved. If you have nothing to say about the fic, then I can't see how it would warrant being on your list of favorite stories. (I do want to thank the people who _were_ courteous enough to review. I really appreciate that you took a moment to leave some feedback!)

 

Anyway; since this story ended on kind of a low note, I was originally going to include an epilogue that takes place years later, expanding on the "Halla gets herself captured on purpose to rescue Pinecone" incident that was mentioned in _His Soul Reflects My Own_. But the epilogue (which is still incomplete) ended up being so confusing for people who haven't read _Two Worlds, One Family_ that I finally decided to break it off from HND entirely and just make it a separate story for TWOF instead.

 

Although I'm not going to do the exact same _He's Not Dangerous_ story again from anyone else's POV ( _such_ a pain, oh my gosh), **I've decided to make this my "Hiccup & Toothless find other Night Furies" series. I have at least two or three alternate versions for that kind of scenario that I started working on, and I'll post them here whenever I get around to finishing them.**

 

Man, I _really_ wish now that I'd posted all my canon-based HTTYD fanfiction together.... If I could do it over again, _The Dragon Queen of Berk_ , _Proper Appreciation (and other stories)_ , _Two Worlds, One Family_ , _He's Not Dangerous_ , and probably _Until We Meet At The Table Of Kings_ would all be collected together in the same series. :/ Even if they all don't exactly match up, the headcanon is still close enough that I think it's kind of confusing to have them all scattered the way they are now, _argh_ I hate being inefficient.... Please use my fanfiction indexes on WordPress to navigate my stories. X'D


	7. Sequel: Transfer

Transfer

(rough draft)

A DreamWorks' _How to Train Your Dragon_ fanfic by Raberba girl

 

Summary: Slyfoot & Pinecone join Berk's flock. Sequel to "He's Not Dangerous" from Pinecone's point of view.

 

A/N: "Humanhalf" and "Shield" are dragon names for Toothless; "Heart-wound" is a name for Squirt; "Dragonheart" is a name for Valka.

 

I TOTALLY forgot to include this author's note when I first posted this story, so sorry to all the confused readers in the meantime - **please read _A Small Addition To Berk's Flock_ (if you can't find it, check my "Dragon Queen of Berk" series) before you read this fic** ._. I didn't remember until after I'd posted this that not everyone would know who Squirt is. X'D

 

o.o.o

 

I have a friend now! I'm so happy~

 

I like everyone, all these dragons who are good and interesting, but no one liked me until Friend. He was Daring before, because he is so brave and clever and wants to do things no one else does that I never even thought of, but now he is Friend. He comes to me when he is scared or lonely and lets me comfort him, he plays with me and sleeps with me, and his name for me is Friend, too.

 

Poor Friend is agitated now, I don't know why.

 

 _"Flock,"_ he says, _"which flock is mine?!"_

 

I ask him if it's our faraway flock where we came from.

 

_"No! I don't like it there."_

 

Maybe it's this dragon-and-human flock instead.

 

_"No...I'm lost here...."_

 

 _"I think maybe Humanhalf will show you where to belong if you join his flock,"_ I say.

 

 _"Friend, you will join this scary new flock with me?!"_ He is scared and insecure, so he pounces on me and pins me down so he won't lose me.

 

I let him. _"I will be in the same flock as you, Friend. You are my friend, I want to be with you."_ I lick him to reassure him that of course I will stay with him.

 

_"...I will ask Charcoal Paws and Shield. Maybe then I'll decide."_

 

It's almost morning now, so we fly back to the day-creature nest. Venomfangs sing their morning songs as the sun rises. Dragons and humans start to come out of their aeries.

 

A black shape darts into the sky. Humanhalf calls his alpha call, and his flocklings call back to pay obeisance to him. The humans roar and chitter, too, but they sound annoyed; I don't know why.

 

"Pipe down there, Truespear!"

 

" _Why_ do they keep making that racket every morning?!"

 

"They never used to, not like this."

 

"It started right after Bludvist's attack, didn't it?"

 

The sea moves, and a big big big BIG shape comes rising out of it. We knew there was a sea-king sleeping down there, but we never saw a sea-king before now; he's so BIG!

 

Sea-king makes a very strange call. He is a king, but he's not an alpha; his call is a flockling call. And it's not 'Hail-to-Alpha,' it's 'Hail-to-Alpha's-half,' as if he's paying obeisance to his flock consort instead of his alpha!!

 

But Humanhalf is not surprised at all, and it's Charcoal Paws on his back who responds instead. "And a good morning to you, too, Squirt!"

 

 _"What kind of response is that??"_ Friend wonders.

 

I very much don't know. It was an interesting sound, like a little wave rolling over pebbles, but it didn't mean anything. But Charcoal Paws sounded cheerful and affectionate, and Sea-king is happy, and Humanhalf isn't bothered, so I guess it's okay.

 

Me and Friend hurry to catch up with Humanhalf and Charcoal Paws, who are turning away toward the sea.

 

 _"Go away,"_ Humanhalf orders. _"This is my flying/playing time with my Half Of Me that I love! We will come back and His flocklings will pounce on Him and cheep at Him and roar at Him and He will be busy busy busy and frustrated and tired, but now He is happy and with ME!"_

 

"Whoa there, Toothless! It's just Pinecone and Slyfoot, bud; calm down."

 

Friend taunts, _"You are not my alpha, I don't have to listen to you."_

 

 _"I thought you wanted to join his flock,"_ I say. I am confused.

 

Friend rolls over in the air to pass close to Charcoal Paws, who reaches up and touches his scales with a paw. "Mornin', Slyfoot." He looks at me and bares his teeth in that strange happy human way. "Good morning, Pinecone."

 

_"I am happy to see you~"_

 

Humanhalf and his other half are very fast and daring. They zoom and swoop and climb and dive and fall, they loop and roll and separate, both gliding like two halves of a heart until they come back together and are one again.

 

We can't keep up. Friend roars in frustration, but I tell him he will feel better if we eat something, so we stop chasing these brother-alphas and go fishing instead.

 

We come back and hide on top of the dead wood caves so the humans won't keep crowding around us and touching us, and we watch this flock. Dragon-and-human partners work together, doing strange human things that we don't understand. Hatchlings and human cubs run and tussle and play together.

 

Humanhalf and Charcoal Paws tend to their flocklings, and Humanhalf was right: Charcoal Paws tries to be patient, but his human flocklings are silly and exasperating. When he gets upset, his mate pulls him away between the cave we are sitting on and the one beside it. She bites his mouth for a long time and they smell like they are going to mate - Friend is interested because he has never seen humans mate before, and I'm confused because Charcoal Paws's mate is already pregnant. But they don't mate, they stop courting too soon and Friend is disappointed, but Charcoal Paws feels happier, I don't know why.

 

Fourwing and Dragonheart come to perch beside us. Friend immediately asks Dragonheart to love him, so she does, and he is very happy to be caressed and cooed at.

 

 _"You will join our flock?"_ Fourwing asks.

 

_"Maybe. I'm waiting for Friend to decide."_

_"This is a good flock. Very much strange, but good."_

 

Friend and Dragonheart nuzzle and croon _"I love you~~~~~"_ to each other so much that finally I am jealous and I go to nuzzle and croon at them, too. Dragonheart's soft little claws are _very_ good at caressing.

 

After a while, we go talk to Sea-king. He is working on his aerie, where many dragons are playing or resting because they've made aeries in it, too. _"How come you're a king but not alpha?"_ Friend asks.

 

_"Alpha is stronger than me."_

_"But he's TINY and you're HUGE!!!"_

 

Sea-king is confused. He thinks for a while, then says, _"My heart is very small and weak and broken. Alpha's is very strong. Consort's is stronger."_

 

_"But Charcoal Paws is even TINIER than Shield!"_

Sea-king is not talking to us anymore, he's thinking and thinking. _"But I think Consort's heart is a little broken, too, and he is very much smaller and weaker than us, but he's strongest anyway...??? Yes, that is true, but I don't know why. Why is this...confusing sweet thing that I love, I don't understand...but Consort loves me, maybe it's okay...."_

Friend is very confused, but I think I understand. _"Charcoal Paws turned his weakness into something very strong, and made nightwings and a sea-king and three whole dragon flocks love him."_ They are one flock now, but it's like there are three flocks inside it. Two of the little-flocks respect Charcoal Paws as their flock consort, but there is one little-flock whose marks on this human show that they very so much love him. _"If he can make so many people love him so much, he must be the strongest one of all."_

_"Then why isn't_ he _alpha?"_

_"Alpha took my flock away from me,"_ Sea-king says. _"Consort made me a flockling."_

 

I _understand_ now! _That's_ why Humanhalf is the ruler, but Sea-king loves Charcoal Paws more. That's why Sea-king's obeisance is so strange.

 

Me and Friend fly back to find Charcoal Paws, this very much interesting human. Charcoal Paws was chittering at two male humans and one female, but he stops when Friend butts him for attention. " _Hey_ , you!"

 

Charcoal Paws _pounces_! Friend is startled and leaps away and stares.

 

Charcoal Paws lowers himself, reaching out his forelegs and crooning soothingly. "Awww, Sly, c'mere! C'mere, little guy, I just want some cuddles!"

 

Friend ducks his head suspiciously, but I know Charcoal Paws is happy to see us even though he pounced. I approach and push my head under his foreleg. He smells good.

 

"It's Pinecone~!" He wraps both forelegs around me and squeezes, but I know he's not attacking me because he's so happy and relieved. We nuzzle each other's faces, but Friend is jealous and runs to push himself between us. "Aww, what, you jealous?"

 

Humanhalf is jealous, too. Charcoal Paws tries to caress all three of us, but he's too small and can't reach. Friend lies down on his hind legs to claim him and Humanhalf washes him to claim him more, even though Charcoal Paws squirms and protests a lot. "No, Toothless! How many times do I have to tell you that it doesn't wash out?!"

 

Friend licks a little _"Mine"_ mark on Charcoal Paws while Humanhalf is distracted.

 

 _"You can't keep him if you leave this flock,"_ I tell him.

 

_"Unhappy...."_

 

Humanhalf finally notices. He roars at Friend to chase him away and licks a huge _"MINE"_ mark on top of Friend's to overpower it.

 

"You guys know that I get no sex when I'm covered with dragon drool, right?" Charcoal Paws pouts.

 

Friend creeps back and slips under my wing. _"Shield,"_ he says, _"tell your other half that I will join this flock."_

_"No! Go away!"_

 

 _"We are two young strong breedmates!"_ I say. Maybe he is lonely being the only nightwing in this nest. _"We will be good for your flock."_ It would be better if we had mates to breed with, though.... Maybe he will want us if we find mates? But Friend is too young to find a mate yet, so I don't know what to do.

 

 _"_ You _can be my flockling, but_ he _will be disobedient and troublesome!"_

 

I know he is right, especially when Friend taunts him.

 

"Okay, guys, I love you all lots, but I gotta get back to work." Charcoal Paws wanders away, I don't know why.

 

 _"He doesn't want us?!"_ Friend cries, hurt and dismayed.

 

 _"He doesn't understand talking,"_ Humanhalf explains. _"He thinks we don't need Him."_ He drags Charcoal Paws back to us. _"Half Of Me, new flocklings! Pay attention!"_

 

"Ow! Toothless, cut it out, I have to-- _Oof_."

 

Dragons are coming to watch and see if they will get new flockmates soon. Dragonheart has been watching us, too; for some reason she is amused. "Hiccup, your presence is required. Remember, you're the flock consort, you should be with Toothless when he accepts new subjects."

 

"New--? Ooohh, they're gonna join the flock?!"

 

 _"Little One--"_ the alpha starts to say.

 

_"I'm not little! I very much don't like that name!"_

_"LITTLE ONE,"_ Humanhalf bellows, and Friend cowers into my side. _"This is my name for you! I think you are 'Troublesome,' but I won't call you that because you should be a good flockling."_

"What are they saying, Mom?"

 

"Dragons don't name themselves, so Slyfoot is making a bit of a nuisance of himself by trying to control what other dragons call him."

 

 _"If you want to be my flockling, then pledge to me,"_ Humanhalf orders.

 

Friend is still cowed, but he lashes his tail once. _"...I will be Charcoal Paws's flockling."_

 

Humanhalf screams in exasperation/frustration.

 

"Whoa, whoa, bud, what is it?! Hey! Heeeey, Toothless, hey, come here. Come here, buddy, it's all right."

 

Humanhalf lets himself be comforted, then pulls away and orders Friend, _"You will be_ my _flockling, or you will go away."_

 

Friend protests. _"SEA-KING is more loyal to Charcoal Paws than you! I want to be, too!"_

_"NO,"_ Humanhalf roars. _"Heart-wound gave his WHOLE SELF to Half Of Me. He loves Him as much as he would love an other half, he obeys Him and protects Him and would die for Him. You would do this for my consort, Little One? You would love Him more than you love yourself?"_

 

Friend wants to hide in the dark and never come out. I keep my wing over him to hide him, and stretch my neck so I can lick and soothe him.

 

"Mom?"

 

"We're waiting on Slyfoot, poor thing. He is very young."

 

"Aw." Charcoal Paws crawls close and gently coaxes until Friend creeps out and hides with him instead. Charcoal Paws caresses him and croons to him and comforts him. He is a very good and interesting thing to love, I know that we will pledge ourselves to Humanhalf because it's the only way we can have Charcoal Paws.

 

Finally Friend is brave enough to submit to Humanhalf and pay obeisance to him. I do it too, so now Humanhalf is Alpha. He marks us as His flocklings, and I like feeling like I belong in a home again.

 

I pay homage to Charcoal Paws who is Consort now, but Friend looks a little defiant and starts licking him with _"MY flock consort"_ marks. Alpha can't erase these because they're true, but He doesn't like anyone else's "my" anything on His other half, so finally He chases Friend away.

 

"Berk," Consort chirps happily, "Night Fury population: three! I _like_ this."

 

His humans start crowding around him again. "So now they _are_ available!"

 

"I claim Greenie for eight sheep!"

 

"No, _I_ claim him for my finest yak!"

 

"I claimed him first yesterday!"

 

"No, you didn't, it was me!"

 

"Well, if no one wants the little one, I'll take him."

 

"Not so fast, I'm bidding against you: two daggers and a mace."

 

"Fine, then, a sword and three shields!"

 

Consort is waving his forelegs. "People, people, stop! They're not _cattle_ , they're not necessarily going to accept the riders who pay the highest price for them."

 

"A Night Fury's worth more than those paltry offers, you fools. I'LL bid four yaks, five sheep, _and_ my best sword."

 

"My entire herd and my daughter's hand in marriage! I dare anyone to top that!"

 

"My whole herd, all my weapons, my sister's dowry, and my firstborn child."

 

Consort slaps a paw over his eyes. "Uuugghh, Vikings...."

 

o.o.o

 

Author's Notes: *tries to explain the dragon term "breedmates"* *fails* Pinecone was just pointing out to Toothless that he and Slyfoot are Night Furies, and he figured Toothless would welcome some fellow Furies into his flock so that he wouldn't be the only one anymore.

 

This fic was better in my head than it ended up being on paper. -.- I'd thought of the idea a few months ago, but didn't have a chance to actually write it until a week or two ago when I worked at the job that gives me a lot of time to write. I waited too long to draft it after getting the idea, and I hadn't written any notes, so I had to rely entirely on memory. I _forgot_ the exact wording Toothless used when talking about Squirt's unusual allegiance to Hiccup and himself, and I don't think the version I ended up writing is anywhere near as effective as the original dialogue which I forgot. D:


	8. [Variation 3] Accepted

["He's Not Dangerous" Variation 3] Accepted

(rough draft)

A DreamWorks' _How to Train Your Dragon_ fanfic by Raberba girl

 

_40,000 FFN profile hits kiriban for_ _SkyHighFan_

 

Summary: An alternate scenario of Hiccup & Toothless finding other Night Furies. Toothless is reunited with his family.

 

A/N: Tooth's point of view.

 

o.o.o

 

Something feels familiar, but I don't care because flying is so fun.

 

Steep dive, rush rush rush, we're going to crash and die in the ocean ha ha ha ha ha it's funny, I'm so excited and the other half of me is so excited I forget and think we _want_ to crash in the ocean wheeeeee fun!

 

But then half of our tail opens and I remember that crashing and drowning is bad, it's only _pretending_ that's fun, so I open my fin to match His and _whoosh_ , up! UP!

 

"Whoooooo hoo!" Half Of Me crows His human _exhilaration joy love joy_ to the skies, and I shout it too and I love this and I love Him and I love everything _so so so so so so so so much_.

 

 _"Flying joy interesting strangers join us excitement!"_ someone cries. Not one, several.

 

I thought I was excited the _most_ , but when I hear their voices I scream joy and loop in the air; Half Of Me barks in surprise and then gurgles His human laughter.

 

 _"Breedmates!"_ I shriek, so happy because I didn't know how much I missed nightwings, _any_ nightwings, until now when I hear their voices again.

 

"Hey...wait a sec--"

 

We call out greetings to each other and I can see them now - I _know_ them, I know them! Not just breedmates, _mine_! My birthflock, my family, Stubborn my clutchmate is rushing to meet us, Half Of Me is shrieking something excited on my back but before Stubborn reaches us someone else drops out of the sky screaming more excitement-joy than all the rest of us, it's Sister. She nearly knocks us out of the air she's so excited, we fall until we adjust our tail and catch the wind again.

 

_"Sorry sorry sorry! Brother I see you you're not dead yay EXCITED love you missed you love you!"_

_"Missed you too, missed you all!"_

 

They're swarming me, rubbing scales pawing nipping licking, all fouling each other's flights and falling out of the air and catching ourselves again and crowing with joy, my precious other half flattening to my back for protection, laughing laughing and babbling His human noises and so happy like I am.

 

 _"There's a human sticking to you, No Teeth; let me knock it away?"_ Stubborn asks, already angled to do it.

 

_"No no no NO! MINE! My precious thing!"_

 

They screech out their surprise and confusion but everyone's too happy to care, especially since of course Half Of Me isn't hurting me and is happy too. We fly and cry out our joy to everything we pass.

 

_"Home, home, our lost dragonet is home~"_

 

That makes me feel strange, torn, I have two homes, my birth home and my precious flock I love and share with my other half; but I don't want to think about that now, I just want to be happy with all these so many people I love.

 

We land on our island, the sun is up now and finally I remember that my family must be tired and were going home to sleep, but it's okay because no one cares. Sister gallops up to me as soon as we land and rubs her scent on me _"Mine mine my beloved brother"_ and purrs, and I tell her and scent-mark her that she is my small sister I love and protect. She is not small anymore, even _she's_ a little bigger than me and everyone else is a lot bigger than me, but she is still small in my memories and I can still protect her just like I protect everything else I love.

 

The others are greeting me and loving me and reading me and marking me, too. _"Little runt clutchmate is an alpha now!! What? What? So very much strange and amazing and funny!"_ Reckless laughs, nuzzling me. We fought and were angry at each other so long ago, but now for the first time I _love_ him and Stubborn, my clutchmates, and they love me. It's a very good feeling, I like it very much, better than all the anger and hurt in our memories.

 

_"Where have you been for so long, No Teeth? You never came home, lost lost lost!"_

_"Now you are back and you smell crazy and amazing! Humans?! Human flock, human half?! Crazy, crazy!"_

 

I start to tell them nothing is crazy, it's just strange but it's still very true and _very_ good, but I forget because-- HALF OF ME IS NOT ON MY BACK LIKE HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE. I whirl, frantic, where did He go--?!

 

He is crouched up on a rock, delighted but a little nervous because three of my flockmates-who-were are sniffing Him and pawing at Him and trying to decide if they should kill Him or not.

 

_"It's a human, must kill it, why isn't it being a monster? Why is it covered with No Teeth's love? He will be upset if we hurt it, what should we do?"_

 

"You guys are so gorgeous it hurts. _Ow_. Yeah, that hurts, too; um, Toothless...?"

 

 _"MINE!"_ I shriek, a little bit outraged but even though they want to hurt Precious Thing, I still can't stop being happy underneath.

 

They duck away and stare at me and wait for me to make them understand, but all I care about is my human, my Half Of Me, there is too much happiness to hold in just my one heart, I want to be close to Him so our hearts can hold it together.

 

I run to Him, He stands up quick. Up on the rock He is higher than me, I nudge Him in the stomach and He drapes over my head and neck to show human affection but I want Him down here closer so I pull away. He yelps as His hindpaws leave the rock and He clings, but I'm not going to let You get hurt, silly. I'm gentle when I shake Him off onto the grass, He play-attacks me to retaliate, so I push Him back and lick Him. He makes funny protesting noises.

 

I nuzzle more scent onto Him, then drape my foreleg over Him so He'll have to stay still for me to lie down and rest my head on Him and be happy breathing His scent. Usually I pretend to let Him win a little bit before I win for real, but now I'm too happy to pretend. Mine mine mine.

 

"Ooof...Odin's beard, you are _heavy_.... Smug, overgrown lizard." He struggles free of my paw and then nuzzles His face against mine so I purr. Then He leans on me and takes His tiny blade, and the other dragons are surprised when He attacks His charcoal stick with it instead of me. He pulls out His bundle of not-leaves and opens it and starts making human marks on it.

 

I look at the other dragons, who are staring at me and the human who's lying right against my exposed belly and making happy noises as if we are clutchmates who love each other instead of enemies. _"The other half of me,"_ I say smugly.

 

 _"Brother is half of a human,"_ Sister purrs wonderingly, and creeps close to sniff Half Of Me's head-fur. He smiles His human smile and caresses her jaw; she ducks away nervous and stares at Him.

 

 _"He won't hurt you. He's not dangerous, He loves us."_ He loves _all_ dragons, even bad ones and stupid ones and foreign ones, but I don't tell them that.

 

 _"How can a human love?!"_ someone wonders.

 

_"I don't know...but my human loves almost everyone, I don't know why."_

_"Everyone?!"_ They think this is funny. They haven't seen how Half Of Me loving everyone has saved lives and set hearts free and conquered enemies and kept our flock safe and happy for all this time. I wouldn't believe He could do it if I hadn't seen it. I didn't know he had an alpha's heart until we met the white sea-king who saw it in Him. I learned a lot how to be a good alpha because of Him.

 

 _"What happened to your tail, No Teeth?! I don't understand it."_ Two of them are looking at my tail and sniffing at His red fin, and now they are all looking. They see and smell that my old flesh fin is gone and this new one is a human not-fin. _"How did you fly?!"_

 

Half Of Me is huddled still and silent and sad close to me, I don't know why. I lick Him to comfort Him. _"We will show you,"_ I say smugly to the other dragons. _"I was crippled and grounded, but Half Of Me made me not grounded anymore, and now together we fly. We will show you."_

_"How do you make yourself not-grounded?! It's impossible!"_

_"Half Of Me is very, very smart, He can do many impossible things."_ That makes them laugh again. They can't believe me, but I will show them and then they will be able to believe me.

 

Reckless bites the dead hide on my back and tries to pull it off me, but I tell him not to because it belongs to Half Of Me and helps Him fly with me.

 

 _"Does it hurt?"_ Sister asks.

 

 _"No."_ I'm so used to it, I always forget it's there. _"Half Of Me wears things to help Him fly, too. And look, Half Of Me made Himself not-crippled too, He made a new good paw for Himself when He lost His real one."_ Now they are sniffing at Half Of Me's metal hindpaw. He thinks it's funny, and he pats Bear Brain's head.

 

Bear Brain licks Him. _"I like your other half, No Teeth,"_ Bear Brain says.

 

"A green Night Fury, heh...you're the same color as pine needles. Maybe I should call you Pine? Pinefury? Nah, that's dumb. Pinecone...?"

 

_"Why is he making those strange noises?"_

_"That's how humans talk."_

_"What? That's not talking! It doesn't mean anything!"_

_"What did he say?"_ Sister asks me.

 

_"Human talking is hard.... I know He said 'nightwing.' He likes you too, Bear Brain. I think He was talking to Bear Brain and Himself at the same time."_

_"What? That's silly,"_ they laugh.

 

I don't know why Half Of Me does it, and I guess it is silly, but I like it anyway and it's annoying that they said that. _"I like that He talks to me even though He can't talk for real."_

_"Papa, I'm sleepy,"_ one of the younger ones finally says.

 

 _"No Teeth, come home!"_ Stubborn barks. _"Rest, eat!"_

_"Yes, it's good."_ I nudge Half Of Me, and when He sees the other nightwings leaving, He climbs onto my back and we follow them.

 

We travel through the forest until we get to the chasm me and my clutchmates used to dare each other to fly across. Now that we are adults, flying is _easy_. They all cross over, then they turn back to look at me, wondering how I can come join them.

 

I laugh and spread my wings, and Half Of Me unfurls His fin to match mine and we fly over the chasm _easy_.

 

They are impressed. _"Aahh! Ahh! You really did fly with only one tailfin!"_

 

 _"I have two fins,"_ I huff. _"Mine and His. They work together."_

_"You taught a human how to fly, No Teeth! Amazing!"_

 

I think...I think me and Half Of Me taught each other how to fly, but I don't know how to explain it.

 

Some of the troop fly ahead to tell everyone, and when we reach the nest, the whole flock is awake to greet us.

 

I know they are excited. They gather close, watching us and exclaiming to each other, and the ones who remember me are explaining to the younger ones.

 

But no one will come close yet, and when Stubborn and the rest of his troop see how angry the queen is, they droop and creep away. Bear Brain is the only one who just creeps a few steps and then sits down, and Sister is the only one who stays with me and supports me. _"Brother our lost one came home,"_ Sister tells the queen bravely. _"We are all very happy."_

 

I want to be angry, but I know my other half would try to love this angry queen, so I try to love her. _"Hello. We are not a threat."_

_"Threat bad outraged, you bring a monster into our nest,"_ she growls. _"Kill it immediately."_

_"NO!"_ I scream, but before I can tell her that I'll kill her if she tries to hurt my precious thing, He tells me anxiously to be quiet and calm, and I try to obey because I love Him.

 

 _"No, Queen!"_ Sister is pleading. _"No Teeth and the human are the same person, it would be wrong very bad wrong to hurt them!"_

_"No Teeth's Half is nice,"_ Bear Brain says. _"Not a monster. Look."_ He licks Half Of Me. Half Of Me was nervous but now He feels better as he caresses Bear Brain.

 

 _"You're letting it touch you,"_ the queen roars, _"you're letting it within reach of your throat, you are crazy...!"_

_" You are crazy for thinking my other half would hurt me!"_

 

They are still being shocked at my disrespect to their queen when I roll onto my back and knock Half Of Me onto my belly, and now the ones who haven't seen Half Of Me before are even more shocked, and frightened.

 

But of course Half Of Me is not a threat. He only yelps in surprise and then clumsily stands on His hindlegs again as if He doesn't even see that I'm completely at His mercy. He crouches to look at me, and is a little worried as if He thinks I'm hurt. "You okay, bud?"

 

_"See?! He's not a monster, He's not even dangerous."_

_"I think he is cute."_ Sister nuzzles Him. I roll back to my feet and press close to my Half Of Me and curl my wings around Him to shield Him.

 

 _"...It does not belong here,"_ the queen says. _"Neither do you, Foreign Alpha. Leave my territory, or we will drive you away."_

 

I'm so angry I want to take my Half Of Me and fly far away from this queen's flock and never come back.

 

But...but the queen's consort has come to stand by her side, a dragon I love very much and missed so much that I made myself stop missing him because it hurt too much. He is looking at me with such love that I know he felt the same. He turns to his other half and nuzzles her and soothes her. _"Half Of Me,"_ he says to her, _"you are seeing our pain-that-was, not what is here right now. Peace calm safe love...."_

 

She can't help nuzzling him back just a little, because she loves him. Then she flares her wings to show that she is angry and feels threatened, and retreats to watch from a high perch to show that she will allow this even though she very much does not approve. All those most loyal to her slip away obediently to their aeries.

 

But not her consort, who loves her but loves me too, he comes to nuzzle his affection to me and reassert the claims he still has on me. _"My small lost child that I love has come back safe...."_

 

_"My sire that I love, I missed you so much...."_

 

He hears that he is no longer my most beloved one; he is curious and interested. _"You are very brave to adore and give yourself to a human."_

_"Not brave."_ But I still love to hear him praise me. _"It's so very easy to love my human."_ Half Of Me is distracted looking at and touching Sister's head plates. I pull Him away so that this dragon who was my sire and companion and is now my friend can look at Him and greet Him. _"He is not dangerous, so it's not brave to love Him."_

 

Friend still hesitates and is afraid, because I know he and his queen both have lost friends and offspring and precious flockmates to humans. But Half Of Me is so happy He smells wonderful, and even though the queen growls when He touches her other half, His soft thin blunt claws are so delicate and gentle, Friend isn't afraid anymore even when Half Of Me's paws stroke near his eyes and across his throat. "Wowwww, you look _just like_ Toothless except bigger.... I can totally die happy now. _Night Furies_ ~"

 

Half Of Me plays with Sister and Friend and Bear Brain for a long time, and a young orphan fledgling soon creeps close to investigate and play, too. Their flockmates get braver and so many come to be curious about and love my other half that I am jealous. I can't _reach_ Him, I don't _like_ it!!

 

Friend has gone back to his other half. The queen is comforted by his presence and by watching Half Of Me making her flocklings happy and not hurting them. She sulks, but she is more relaxed now that she sees of _course_ my gentle Half Of Me is not a threat.

 

I love Friend too, so I go to snuggle against his other side, and he curls his wing around me. _"Lost child that I love...."_ He nuzzles me happily. _"Missed you."_

_"Missed you, Not-Papa."_ I am _too much_ old to have a papa anymore, but I feel safe and loved as if I am still a hatchling and he is still my papa who loves me and takes care of me.

 

 _"You are an adult, not a hatchling,"_ the queen growls.

 

 _"Duh!"_ I growl back. _"I love this dragon my friend even though he is not my papa anymore!!"_

 

Friend squeezes me tighter and licks his other half to comfort us both. _"Hush peace hush. I am happy to have people I love close to me; don't make me unhappy!!"_

 

Me and that dragon who is _not_ my mama anymore sulk and ignore each other.

 

 _Finally_ Half Of Me and those greedy dragons get tired of playing with each other, except Orphan who is annoying and Bear Brain who just likes to be close to gentle Half Of Me even if he's not playing. They both follow Him as He comes back to me, and the queen growls softly as He approaches.

 

"Heeeey there." Half Of Me croons and lies down, saying He is not a threat. "Hmm.... Your head plates are shaped differently...I think maybe the girls look like that, and the boys look like Toothless, huh? Are you a girl Night Fury? Are you a lady~?"

 

The queen flattens her head plates in displeasure. Even _she_ can see that Half Of Me is flirting with her, trying to win her favor, and she doesn't like it. Her other half is amused.

 

Half Of Me crawls closer. I know that my exasperating Half Of Me wants to touch her and caress her and make excited human noises and scribble silly human marks in his dead not-leaf bundle, ugh.

 

But the queen doesn't like it, she growls louder and faces Him down and arches her wings. Half Of Me freezes and hides His eyes, but still she won't let Him approach.

 

 _"Half Of Me, it's all right,"_ Friend croons to her. He gets up and nuzzles Half Of Me, who smiles His human smile and nuzzles back a little.

 

 _"Get away from it!"_ the queen barks. _"He is a threat!"_

_"That's not a threat,"_ I say. _"Human teeth are not challenge threat bad, human teeth are happy! He's happy, he will not hurt your other half!!"_

_"Ohhhh,"_ Bear Brain says. He understands now about human teeth.

 

The queen doesn't believe me, but Friend retracts his teeth and bites Half Of Me a little. When Half Of Me doesn't retaliate, he paws at Him and then pushes Him over and sets a paw on His belly. I don't protect Half Of Me because I love Friend and Friend loves me and Friend will not hurt my precious thing, but I still don't like it and am uneasy.

 

"Hey, man, go easy on me, okay?" Half Of Me reaches up and pats Friend's face, ignoring the claws against His belly. Friend leans down and bites Him, still without teeth but provoking Him, but of course Half Of Me still doesn't retaliate.

 

 _"See, Half Of Me?"_ Friend says. _"I dominate him and provoke him, but he is still not a threat! He's safe. Come accept him."_

 

The queen crouches and growls for a very long time, and we all wait and wait. Half Of Me tries to get up, but Friend won't let Him; He squirms and complains, but finally He waits, too. He takes out His bundle again to scribble on it some more; I know He's bored with being trapped and waiting.

 

Finally, slooowly, the queen gets up and paces close and licks _"Maybe not a threat MAYBE"_ on Half Of Me's face.

 

Half Of Me reaches up to caress her, but doesn't when she growls at Him; Friend reproaches her and then closes his mouth over Half Of Me's forepaw. _"See? Safe."_

 

FINALLY the queen reaches to lick Half Of Me's chest, her eye is rolled back to glare at Him but her throat is stretched out exposed to Him. He is looking at it happy, I know He wants to touch it, but of course NOW He heeds her warning-that-was and won't touch it even though He's allowed to now. I have to go pick up His paw and press it against her throat.

 

"Man, I have no idea what's going on here. Hey, Big Toothless, you think you can let me up any time in...you know, the next few hours...?"

 

The queen rolls her eyes at His nonsense chittering and turns away. She has accepted Him. He can walk among her flock and they won't hurt Him.

 

The flock will sleep now, they are very tired, but me and Half Of Me are wide awake because it's daytime and He is a day-creature and I am one now, too. He can't play with these nightwings He loves anymore, but He can investigate their nest, so He does. I get bored, so I go fishing and come back and eat my fish where I can watch Him. He investigates and chitters and scribbles, and we wait for night to come so He can play with these nightwings again.

 

o.o.o

 

Author's Notes: **(Please vote in the new poll on my FFN profile! I'm gearing up to change my interpretation of the Hiccup/Astrid relationship, and would like some input from my readers about what they think of how I've written HiccStrid so far.)**

 

I've actually had most of this written for months. SkyHighFan happened to request a fic at the same time I had a kiriban slot open, and he(?) basically asked for a fic where Toothless reunites with his birth family, so I prioritized this fic, typed it up, and finished it.

The thing is, SkyHigh asked for a fic where Tooth's family basically sees what he's become.... They come to Berk, find out about the Red Death's demise, that Hiccup was queen for a while and Toothless is now alpha, etc..... But I actually couldn't think of how to write that in a way that felt natural or storylike. Most of it they just don't care about, and the rest of it they wouldn't treat with more than momentary surprise. I hope that what I did write was okay instead....

 

This story was _supposed_ to be my attempt to do a version of the reunion where dragons care about each other with more human-like relationships (such as automatic attachment to immediate family members), but it didn't turn out that way, since I realized that Tooth's relationships with his family wouldn't change much whether their bonds are human-like or animal-like. *sweatdrop* Either way, he adores his father, doesn't get along with his mother, has a complicated relationship with his brothers, and loves his little sister, so I ended up just using my regular dragon headcanon.

 

Speaking of headcanon, I have more than one for Tooth's backstory. One version is the one in stories like _Scaring Away Monsters_ and _Hunting For Trolls_ , where Tooth's father was absent while he was growing up and he never got a chance to meet his little sister. However, another version, which I think I've only managed to hint at in _Hybrid_ and in an outtake of _His Soul Reflects My Own_ so far, is that Toothless grew up with both parents and utterly adored his father, and that he was around for the hatching of his younger sister, whom he formed an attachment to.

 

Ftr, the Night Fury queen is indeed Tooth's mother. ;) (I have to fix it in the original _He's Not Dangerous_ story! In my headcanon, dragon leaders are female queens by default, only Bewilderbeasts are male alphas, and Toothless is a weirdo exception. ^^; ) I enjoy the parallel of Toothless, like Hiccup, also being the offspring of a community leader whom he doesn't get along with. I'm under the impression that she became queen at some point after losing Toothless rather than having always been queen, but I guess it depends on the story.

 

For a long time, I was having Toothless call Hiccup "Hiccup" in his thoughts for the sake of simplicity, but I eventually decided not to be a lazy writer. Toothless almost never thinks of Hiccup as either the sound "Hiccup" or the word meaning "hiccup," he almost always thinks of him as "Half Of Me" or "Precious Thing." I decided that I have to be true to that, rather than sacrifice a bit of logic to make it easier for both me and the readers. ^^;; Yet another thing to fix in all those rough drafts....

 

I have at least one more "HiccTooth meet other Night Furies" scenario that I'll post here in the "He's Not Dangerous" series, another (part of a larger story involving Drago and Freefall) that'll probably be posted in "Two Worlds, One Family," and yet another (possibly more than one) which will be posted with _His Soul Reflects My Own_.


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